Starring: Ashutosh Rana, Jas Arora, Tara Deshpande, Gautam Kapoor, Zul Vellani Music: Whosane? Editor: Sreekar Prasad Cinematography: Uday Devare Writer / Producer: Vasan Chhedda Director: Govind Menon Run Time: 2 hours, 7 minutes.

Despite repeated insistence, all that we got for the synopsis was this: an accountant (Ashutosh Rana) with a mafia boss, his mistresses (Tara Deshpande) and her lover (Jas Arora), two crores of dirty money and a whole lot of dead bodies. There is little to give away at this point" says the director.

Danger is Govind Menon's directorial debut. He describes it as a nouveau noir thriller at breakneck speed, with an approach of black comedy, a genre that has never really surfaced in Indian cinema. Hormone Showbiz, Vasan Chedda's production company, produces the film. Though much in the mold of the classic film noir, unlike the modern LA Confidential and The Usual Suspects, the one difference in Danger is its rapid pace.

So how much creative control did Menon have over the film? "I worked on someone else's script and idea," says he, "but it is close to something that I would want to do. Also, my contribution as a director is total and self-evident." Besides, he is quick to point out the interesting fact that a director like Spielberg has for every one of his films, adapted a novel. The first three scenes of the film that Upperstall was audience to, substantiates the statement of his creative control as the director. It starts (as the titles roll) with a dramatic chase sequence full of surprises as the protagonist makes his way home where his mistress, dressed in a towel, greets him. In a single fluid take, he undresses to his underwear while talking to his "boss" on the phone about the killers who chased him, a cactus falls, scratching his leg as he puts down the phone to explain to the girl that the killers are the type who would hang live people in tandoors, people who would smell their own flesh burn and asks for the hair-dryer all in the same breath.

The film uses cool tones and the lighting is very different from the regular Indian films that one sees. They even made their own lights for certain scenes as they are not available for hire in India. The film is shot on Kodak 800 ASA, really fast film used for the first time in an Indian production. Menon personally supervised the lab work in Chennai to make sure that Danger's prints are no less perfect than the very best from Hollywood. The sound too is Dolby DTS. "Slick" is the word for this production.

After graduating in Theatre and and Film at Middlebury College, Govind went to film school at University of Texas, Austin. He has assisted Santosh Sivan in several films including Nirnayam and Halo. Danger has its roots in a music video that Menon directed. Originally intended to be a short film, he shot a six minute quick paced 'Eastern' (as opposed to the Hollywood 'Western') which was inspired by Apollo Four Forty's album Electro Glide and Blue. Cutting it to the track of Ain't Talking About Dub (with its guitar riff from Van Halen's Ain't Talking About Love) he sent it to Apollo Four Forty who loved it and adopted it for their track. The video was funded by Plus Channel. Ironically, it was banned from all Indian music channels because of its violent content. However Vasan Chhedda laid his hands on the video and he promptly took on Menon to give shape to his ideas, as this was in the same genre and treatment he was looking for. Uday Devare, who Menon personally feels is the star of the film despite it being his first film, orchestrates the impressive cinematography. Devare had previously assisted Santosh Sivan in Barsaat and Nirnayam.

In the era where black comedy and film noir are almost history comes a fresh new experiment from Govind Menon in the form of Danger where the two genres meet for the first time in a mid-budget Indian film. With no songs, and a treatment that few cine-goers have experienced, this film promises to be exhilarating and different.

Danger releases late November.