Chennai, March 1 (IANS): Actress-filmmaker Lakshmy Ramakrishnan's next Tamil directorial will be based on the experiences of people during the devastating Chennai floods which left the city ravaged last year.

"Since the beginning of this year, I have been working on the script. My film will not be about the floods, but it will be based on the experiences of people who stood by each other and broke all barriers during the time of crisis," Lakshmy told IANS.

Busy with the pre-production work, Lakshmy plans to begin the set work on the project from July.

"The story will be about the aftermath of the incident on an emotional level. I want to explore the humanistic angle. I could have roped in a star and made this a heroic story, and in order to do that I didn't want to exploit the natural disaster angle," she said.

"This is not about one man or a hero saving hundreds of people. This story is about human bonding and how it evolves against the backdrop of an incident of this scale," she said.

Lakshmy was inspired to make this film after getting intrigued by real-life experiences that she heard from close family members and people from different walks of life.

The project will be facilitated by high-end visual effects (VFX) work.

"I'm already in talks with a big VFX company and they are kicked about the idea. Although they haven't worked on films so far, they are excited to partner with me on this project," she said, adding that she has already begun her casting process.

Lakshmy is in talks with Ashok Selvan, Priya Anand and veteran actor Nasser.

"Ashok is quite excited about the project but he is yet to come on board. Although I discussed the idea with Nasser sir, I'm yet to pass on the script. But I am sure he will be interested to be part of the film," she said, adding that she has also approached actor Vijay Sethupathi, besides a few popular stars.

While she plans to go on the floors soon, she hopes to shoot the flood scenes during monsoon later this year.

"Even if we were to create the rain, it would make sense to shoot during the monsoon climate to make it look authentic. In the interim, we will shoot some scenes in the set and hand over the material to the CGI department," she said.

The rest of the cast and crew will be finalised soon.

On the acting front, she is busy with a slew of Tamil and Malayalam projects.