Prithviraj signs a crime drama on Detroit street gangs

For aspiring filmmaker Nirmal Sahadev, assisting Shyamaprasad for Ivide at the US turned out to be his lucky break. Not only did he get to work with one of the finest filmmakers of the industry, he also met the future lead for his debut film — Prithviraj. It was the association of the two during the shoot of Ivide which has now led to the birth of Nirmal’s directorial debut, a crime drama titled

Detroit Crossing

.

“Talks for this film had been on since we met, now with the script and major characters in place, I felt this is the right time to announce it,” says Nirmal. Prithviraj has described the film as a “crossover film’’ on his social media page. He writes, “Ivide was my first honest attempt at a crossover film in Malayalam to me. My second one will be Detroit Crossing.”

The film will indeed be shot entirely in the city of Detroit, Michigan, says Nirmal. “The story is based on certain true events, and revolves around the street gangs in the cities of Detroit and Toronto. These areas were notorious for Tamil street gangs as well. Prithviraj’s character is someone who gets involved in such a gang, and the story progresses on how he gets out of it. I can’t reveal too much at this point, but the film will have a lot of romantic elements to it as well. We are in the process of casting the female lead.”

The film will be a bilingual, Nirmal adds, and will be made in Malayalam and Tamil, probably English as well. “There are a lot of Tamil elements and so there will be some big names from Tamil in the film. It will be a big budget project and so there is a lot of work left. The shooting of the movie will begin only by the end of this year or early next year.”

Meanwhile, he couldn’t get a better start for his career than with this movie, says the filmmaker. “We have been working together on this project for more than a year now and I would call it a collaboration with Prithviraj more than my film. He has been an amazing mentor and a great friend, very straightforward and dedicated too,” says Nirmal, who was the chief associate of Monsoon Mangoes as well.