The set of a premium apartment has been constructed inside a godown near Edappally in Kochi. It is the main set of writer and director Lal Jr.’s Hi I’m Toni .
“The film is a thriller that happens inside this apartment, over the course of a night. I had gone around looking for the right apartment, but none of them suited my requirements perfectly. So we designed an entire apartment. In fact, to a certain extent, we have re-worked the scenes based on this set,” says Lal Jr., who made his debut with the hit film, Honey Bee, last year.
“One of the pluses of creating this set was that we could shoot the film with sync sound. It is often seen that scripts get moulded as per the availability of the locations, but here we have done enough planning to make use of the set completely. Hi I’m Toni is totally different from the mood of my first film and has fewer characters than that,” says Lal Jr., the son of actor and director Lal.
In the film, this is an apartment in Bangalore where newlyweds Sameer (Asif Ali) and Teena (Miya) live. It is actually a ‘model home’ made by a builder for prospective buyers. The elder Lal plays the title role of Toni.
The younger Lal who is sporting a Mohawk and long beard, says that he was experimenting on his own hair and beard, to choose the right look for Toni! “Since my father is busy with other projects, we decided to do all those experiments on my hair,” he says.
However, he’s not very forthcoming on details regarding the film as such. “I can’t reveal much about Toni or the character played by Biju Menon. It’s part of the suspense,” he says.
The actors too are not very forthcoming. But Asif is nonetheless gung ho about the movie. “Since the entire story happens inside this set, it’s like going to an office! I am also excited about shooting with sync sound – a first for me,” says the young actor.
Miya, who replaced Nazriya Nazim, too shares his bonhomie. “All the characters that I have done until now were rather grounded in their outlook. In this movie I play a youngster who is modern and carefree.”
Hi I’m Toni is being produced jointly by SJM Entertainments and Ideas Inc. Alby is the cinematographer.
