"Steam Engine in STRANGERS is an integral character", Aanand Rai.
The train is almost the character in the STRANGERS which is a shocking story of two complete strangers. How they meet in a train and the journey changes their lives forms the crux of the plot.
Two strangers'€”one successful, suave businessman and other a failed writer, dissatisfied with their marriage, decide to kill the other person's wife, so that the needle of suspicion would not fall on them.
Director Anand L Rai was very particular about the train for the film since he wanted a particular look and feel to the film. The director shot the film in the virgin locales on the outskirt of London, in Winchester, which has a population of only 230 people.
He chose a steam engine that traveled from Winchester to Alton. He was also particular that the two strangers would be in a special coupe of the train with no third person.
The meeting point of the characters in the train and the flashback unravels the turmoil of the two characters.
Says Director Anand Rai, "I was very particular about the steam engine since the London Metro train would be too crowded. I wanted the two characters caught up in a special coupe in a train. I wanted to work with the characters in a certain space that they are bound to communicate. The feel of the train too was important since the innermost thoughts of the two characters could be exemplified."
He adds, "I was quite pleased when I got to shoot in the Steam Engine. The steam Engine in itself is almost an integral character of the film. The essence of the two characters suffocated in their respective marriages and their turmoil is best captured against the backdrop of the steam engine."