I have a couple of thick files about things that have gone wrong between people; I ought to write about them in the manner of a thriller. It would finally convince me that I was a real writer.
If you’re writing a thriller, and you don’t make it compelling, then you’ve really not done your job. So it’s easier for me not to set out with certain goals, and then I can’t see them as unmet. It’s like life generally: If I’m not aiming to be physically fit, then I’m not always thinking about being unfit.
A great thriller, to me, is more about creating a sense of unease: a queasiness that comes with knowing something is not quite right.
I’ve done so many genres of films in my career; I’ve done 91 films so far. But never a thriller. That’s how ‘Oppam’ happened.
