Hollywood has dipped its toes into board game movies a handful of times over the past few years, but in Malaysia this was a novelty, until brothers Viknes and Thanesh Perrabu drew inspiration from an ancient Snake and Ladder board game. The game originated in India many centuries ago and was called “Paramapatham”.   
Paramapatham, the movie, tells the story of an archeologist, Aroon, and three of his friends who go on an adventure. Along the way, they find an old abandoned 18^th century British Hotel. Inside, looking for antique objects, Aroon finds an ancient board game, with the word “Paramapathan”, carved on the board. Aroon realizes it is an ancient Tamil language and the game is from India. Unknown to them, the friends give the game a go. When the day starts getting darker, they leave the game unfinished and Aroon decides to bring the game back to his home. Soon the friends will discover their lives will be affected from the moment they roll the dice. What happens next makes up the story of the movie
Vineks Perrabu, the 30-year-old, self-taught filmmaker who in 2014 directed his first feature film, the horror thriller Sathuriyan, co-directed the film along with his brother Thanesh, (28). Aside from directing, both brothers play key roles in the film. Tanesh, better known as an actor before stepping for the first time into the director´s shoes, plays the lead role, Aroon, while Viknes play the main villain who tries to stop the friends from completing the game.
The energetic movie was shot last year in unique and exotic locations in Kedah, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, where the team found old abandoned British buildings that were used as sets, as well as in Thailand. The team worked together with a special effects company from Kerala, India, to create the CGI effects for the movie. Besides being the first thriller in the Malaysian Film Industry, Paramapathan has the lengthiest dialogue ever in Malaysian Tamil Cinema caught in one take! According to the directors, Ben G, the multi-talented Malaysian artist, memorized four pages of the script in just minutes and shot the scene in one take with no cuts or repetitions. The Tamil film was also the first in Malaysia to employ ice skating and hot air ballooning.
Last year Paramapathan won at least 16 awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Feature Film and Best Director Award at various film festivals around the world which placed it in the Malaysia Book of Records, a certified entity under the Guinness World Records, for “Most Tamil Movie Awards won by a Movie Director”.