Chennai, Mar 6 (IANS): Director Lokesh Kanagaraj says his forthcoming Tamil urban thriller "Maanagaram", set against the backdrop of Chennai, will showcase the city in a different light.

Starring Sundeep Kishan, Sri and Regina Cassandra, the film will release on Friday.

Talking about the film, Lokesh told IANS: "It's a story about metropolitan dreams in the lives of a few characters. A lot of people from different walks of life come to a metropolitan with dreams, but when reality strikes them they realize life isn't easy."

He said the film will showcase Chennai in a different light.

"It was a challenge to showcase Chennai differently. So many films over the years have captured the city in different lights. We had to still show something different.

"We scouted about 300 locations and out of which zeroed in a few locations that haven't been explored so far," he said, adding the film was shot across several real locations in the city.

Lokesh is confident the film's hyperlink narrative style will stand out.

"More than the story, it's the sequence of events that audience will find very engaging. We have used the hyperlink narrative style which connects one story to another and finally weaves together all the sub-plots to make a very engaging screenplay," he added.

Talking about his cast, he said the script was written with Sri in mind.

"He was my first choice. I met Sundeep through a friend and he really liked the script. In fact, he was even ready to produce the film but it couldn't happen immediately as he busy with other commitments. Meanwhile, I met producer S.R. Prabhu who liked my script and came on board," he said.