When a young man called Raheem is killed while travelling on a train, the sole witness to the incident is his pet dove.

The police wrap up investigations, terming it a case of suicide, but his fiance, Sangeetha, is unconvinced. She reopens the case and now the case is transferred to Shiva, an officer from the Crime Branch- CID division.

Veteran director P. Vasu made supernatural murder tale Shivalinga in Konkan last year, which was well received.

Now he is back with its remake in Tamil and Telugu. Raghava Lawrence reprises the role of Shivraj Kumar from the original. He is Shiva, the CID officer. Rithika Singh takes on Vedhika’s character, Satya, Shiva’s wife and a lover of horror films.

Vasu’s son, Shakthi Vasudevan plays Raheem, a biriani specialist from the original. Newcomer Sara plays his fiance. Comedian Vadivelu will be seen in a key role, said Vasu.

“He is a petty thief who is caught in an unwanted situation and will bring in the laughs.”

While Vasu has retained the core element from the original, he has added elements of comedy for the Tamil and Telugu audience.

“I have also changed the climax,” he said.

Vasu filmed the remake in Bengaluru at the same isolated mansion [as the first film] that carried a spooky air about it.

Vasu’s challenge lay in making the dove an eyewitness.

“How will Shiva, the CID officer establish Raheem’s death as a murder?”

A real dove that won a gold medal in pigeon racing in Delhi was procured and trained.

“All the shots are natural and live,” added the director who has been in the industry for more than three decades.

“We have not used computer graphics for scenes involving the bird. The dove was trained to move to the clicking sound of my fingers and we got its close-ups.”

Vasu says Shivalinga will be an interesting and gripping experience for the audience.

“Every character in the story will be a suspect and keep the audience guessing.”

The supporting cast includes Radha Ravi, VTV Ganesh, Jayaprakash, Santhana Bharathi, Urvashi and Bhanupriya. SS. Thaman has composed music. Sarvesh Murari has handled the camera.

So was Raheem’s death a murder or suicide?

Check out Shivalinga, produced by Trident Arts, out now in the UAE.

source: GULF NEWS