In for a scary ride

City-based Sajeer Ahammed debuts as a producer with horror-comedy film Lechmi

Parvathy Ratheesh in Lechmi

Unlike most first-time producers, Sajeer Ahammed isn’t a bundle of nerves. Rather, he is trying to keep excitement in check as horror-comedy

Lechmi releases this Friday, produced under his newly formed Shamsher Creations.

Spook factor

Directed by B.N. Shajeer Sha, Lechmi has a largely Thiruvananthapuram-based cast and crew. Sajeer, a mining engineer turned producer, is confident that the film will draw audiences to the big screen for its exploration of a hitherto untouched subject. “We have done our homework. Firstly, as far as I know, the psychic disorder dealt with in Lechmi has never been shown in Malayalam cinema before. Secondly, the film is a paranormal investigation, which involves ghost busting, again a rarity in Malayalam cinema,” he explains while leaving the rest to one’s imagination.

He is quick to assure though that

Lechmi does not follow the formula of the tried-and tested white sari-clad ghost breaking into a song as she emerges from the fog.

“We have tried to keep it credible enough to bring viewers to the edge of their seats. Nowadays, children laugh at what was once seen as scary in horror films, so we have made sure that the genre of horror too has evolved with the times.” The background score, key to raising the spook factor, is by newcomer Dheeraj Sukumaran.

Lechmi , which stars Parvathy Ratheesh in the lead, touches upon the issue of women’s safety. The plot is revealed through the lives of four bachelors played by Maanav, BN Shabeer, Deepu Parassala (of television show Comedy Star fame) and Sajeer himself.

Theatre artiste-turned-television actor Biju Sopanam plays Baba Swami, with Sethu Laksmi and Moly Angamaly being the other actors in the film.

Lechmi only required some minor changes after friend and director Shajeer narrated the story to him. Based abroad, Sajeer, who always had his heart in the arts, would run the idea of a production company by his friends whenever they suggested that he set up a business in India. “I always knew that whenever it is that I would come back to India for good, it would be cinema,” he says.

Lechmi has been shot in the city, areas bordering Tamil Nadu as well as at Merryland and Chitranjali Studio. The movie, according to Sajeer, is also the first in India to be shot wholly on a Red Raven camera.

Sajeer is already busy with his next script, this time based on Thiruvananthapuram and its dialect.