Devathai (1997)

Interesting facts

Devathai (transl. Angel) is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language supernatural thriller film written, directed and produced by Nassar. The film stars himself, Vineeth and Keerthi Reddy, while the film's score and soundtrack are composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film released in June 1997 to positive reviews, however it ended up becoming an average grosser at the box office. The film's story was loosely based on 1992 American film Bram Stoker's Dracula and novel of the same name.

Production

After the failure of his directorial debut, Avatharam, Nassar claimed he "remembered a story I [he] had first heard as a child, it stayed with me and gave me the creative seed for this film", talking about how he picked to make a story on reincarnation. Nassar struggled to find an apt actress to play the lead role and even advertised in newspapers asking potential actors to audition, before finding and finalising on Telugu actress Keerthi Reddy.

The authorities in Dubai initially were reluctant to let Nassar shoot his film there, as a previous Tamil filmmaker had depicted the city in poor light. Eventually the actor-director was able to convince them to let him shoot his film in the city after providing them with an entire script.

The art director, Trotsky Marudu, revealed that he worked very hard during the portions in the first 30 minutes of the film, with the sets, costumes, weapons, make-up having to be similar to conditions 300 years ago. Nassar and Marudhu further proceeded to incorporate graphics into the film, using "Flint" software, to create several special effects scenes in the film.

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