Yogi (2014 film)


Yogi is a 2014 Independent Singaporean Hyperlink Tamil Comedic Action Thriller Short-Film written, shot and directed by Kevin William. Stanley Vincent composed the film's soundtrack and score with an additional score composed by Dinesh Menon. The film was jointly edited by Kevin William, Stanley Vincent & Dinesh Raj. Filmoholic Pictures and Aaryan Productions & Entertainment bankrolled the venture and purchased the theatrical rights for the film while Treasure Max Productions held the audio rights.
Yogi is a Hyperlink Cinema film, with the story revolving around the lives of 4 friends & an assassin, both coming from different walks of life and illustrates how their fates gets intertwined by a similar motive. The film had its own theatrical premiere in Golden Village cinemas, on 5–6 December 2014, being the first ever local independent short film to hit the screens. The film opened to mostly positive reviews from critics and audience island-wide.

Synopsis

Motives are the keyword here. 2 stories connected by 1 motive.
The film revolves around the urban lifestyle of 4 friends, "Karate" Kailaasam, "Silencer" Karthik, Deva a.k.a. Devi, "Romeo" Deen & a hit-and-run assassin, Jegan, both coming from different
social backgrounds. When fate decides to put their lives at stake, it becomes a game of survival for them. Selfish acts, vengeance, love & friendship revolves around this critical situation. A similar motive starts to run in all their minds, "Murder". One of them has to outsmart the others to prove he's the "Master of Oneself".

Censors rating

'Yogi' was passed with a censors rating of PG in Singapore with an advisory of "some sexual reference".
PG – Parental Guidance advised for children under the age of 13.
Consumer Advisory – Some Sexual References.

Cast

After completing his 2nd short film, "Survival", which garnered average reception, Kevin William decided to embark on a hyperlink short film project. He used various films with the same content, Aaytha Ezhuthu, Vaanam, and David for instance, as his study guide for the script. Screenwriting went on for 5 months, starting on November 2013 & ending on April 2014. While the scriptwriting was ongoing, V. Karthik, who runs his own production, Aaryan Productions & Entertainment, decided to produce Yogi after reading the draft copy of the script. Besides Karthik, Kevin's close friend, Thishanthneswaran, was called in to be the co-producer as well, as well as Kevin himself being the executive producer of the whole production.
Script writing ended around Mid-April 2014, after which casting immediately began. Casting was handled by Karthik & Stanley Vincent, supervised and auditioned by Kevin William. Initially, Stanley's friends Nandhan & Kessler were called in to play the role of "Devi" & "Romeo" Deen respectively. Due to work commitments, they backed out from the project. Thus, Sai Harendran & Thofiq Ahamed were called in to replace their roles. The main lead, Jegan was auditioned many months before the final script got ready, and he was instantly selected by the director for his crisp performance. Most of the cast were debutantes.
Principal photography began in early June 2014 & ended in late June 2014. A total of 4 weekends were spent for the filming. Kevin William handled the cinematography works, with Dinesh Raj assisting as the assistant camera operator. Stanley Vincent handled the lights with Karthik & Dinesh being his gaffers on set. Production sound recording was handled by Thishanthneswaran. The whole film's sound was done using location boom recording, no ADR/dubbing was involved.
Post-Production began in early September and ended in late November. The film was edited in Final Cut Pro X & Vegas Pro. Editing was jointly done by Kevin William, Stanley Vincent & Dinesh Raj. Film editing was completed in early October, there-forward the background score works & VFX works began. The film's VFX works were composed in Adobe Photoshop and after which brought into FCP-X for editing & colouring. Stanley Vincent handled the colour correction & colour grading of the film. The final cut of the film was prepared & made ready 2 days before the theatrical premiere.

Soundtrack

While the principal photography was ongoing, Kevin approached Stanley Vincent, who played the role of "Silencer" Karthik in the film, to compose tho score for the film after getting to know that he could do music, and after listening to a few of his works. It is Stanley's first time embarking on composing for a film. Dinesh Menon, Kevin's former colleague was roped in to compose a single score for the film. The score composition took a total of 2 months. The entire soundtrack was done in Garageband & mastered in Logic Pro X at Stanley's studio, Treasure Max Productions Studio.
While the complete score consisted of 26 tracks, there was 2 exclusive songs composed for the film, "Violent Sting" & "Yogi – Master of Oneself". The songs were written, performed, composed, mixed & mastered by Stanley Vincent. An altered version of "Violent Sting" was featured during the end credits of the film.

Reception

The soundtrack album was critically acclaimed by many. The album was labelled as, "one of the best in Singapore music albums". The background score turned out as the main highlight of the film.

Release

The theatrical rights of the film were bagged by Filmoholic Pictures & Aaryan Productions & Entertainment. Yogi had its own theatrical premiere on 5–6 December at Golden Village. Yogi is known to be, by far, the first ever local independent short film to have made it to the big screens on a solo release. An article of the film came out in Singapore's well known Indian newspaper forums, Tamil Murasu.

Critical reception

"Yogi" opened to positive reviews from critics & audience. Kannan Vijayakumar wrote, "I liked the mood sustained in the film and hyperlink screenplay is never an easy task so kudos for even trying it. Personally liked the lighter screenplay sections and the screen presence of the entire cast ensemble. My favorite was Jegan. And of course, a great effort in music and editing." Muthu Kumar gave the film a rating of ★★★★-½, citing "Gripping and fast screenplay. BGM of the film is the main highlight. Fully entertaining and thrilling." Shahid Afsar wrote, "Incredibly good ! A must watch movie !" Ajmal Ishak wrote, "Engaging thriller with comical moments." Kirthika Charlotte Sarvanan stated, "I have watched many movies and short films, but this is the first one that is on theater, and it is so well done." Pratip Kumar gave the film ★★★★☆ and wrote, "I really loved how everything was scripted and how the cinematographer got the shots away. Didn't expect the twist. It was a comical movie that had a good flow. Well done on the casting !!" Revathi Gunasakaran rated the film ★★★☆☆, stating "Within 3 minutes, I was lost in the world of Yogi only to be pleasantly revived at the end."