Ramesh Aravind talks about the research that went into his film

Actor-director Ramesh Aravind and his team have quite literally been chasing cyber-crime department officials in Bengaluru over the past few months. Turns out, they were not trying to file a complaint or follow up on one, instead, they were just looking for relevant information for their film,

100

.
“The department itself looks like a software company. We went there to understand the processes and see how we could recreate what they do in our film. Over the last few months, we had a lot of doubts — from technology to basic things like specific ways of wearing the uniform. Despite multiple calls and visits, the officials have only been happy to oblige. Working with them has been nothing short of revelatory. For instance, you would think that destroying your SIM card and smashing your phone to pieces will ensure you cannot be traced, but you cannot be more wrong,” says Ramesh.
“While the obvious meaning of the film’s title refers to the emergency phone number that connects you to the

police

, 100 also refers to the

binary

system that computers are based on — 1 and 0 — where 1 signifies on and 0 is off,” explains Ramesh, who adds that this is the first time that he is playing the lead in an actual hero vs villain story. “Most of my films have seen me trying to work around situations that played villain in the story. This one, too, has a cyber crime in focus —there has been so much learning about this new and inevitable social evil that is plaguing society today. What’s different this time, however, is that there is an actual person, the cyber stalker (played by Vishwa), who I, as the good cop, have to track and take on. I’ve loved being part of the action sequences that, again, are new for me,” he says.