"My Wife's Murder" by producer Ram Gopal Varma explores the mind of a married man on the run.

They say marriages are made in heaven. They also say till death do us part. And while the first may be anyone's guess, what happens when the second comes horribly true? Ravi Patwardhan, the protagonist of the film, could probably tell you.

Accused of a murder, Ravi is caught between a rock and a hard place. A sadistic cop is hell bent on hunting him down. His two innocent children are with him, being hunted. A well-meaning friend has got involved too. What's the man going to do?

Ravi, under the constant nagging of his wife, is like a silently ticking time bomb. One day, the bomb goes off and the wife ends up dead. That is just the beginning.

Atul Sabharwal, the writer says, "It was this beginning that excited me the most towards the idea that Ramuji says he had been living with for 15 years, even before he made his first film 'Shiva'.

"I am myself a great fan of crime writer James M. Cain whose stories begin with a murder and then tell the reader how the murderer's psychology changes and catches up with them. And this was one step ahead of James M. Cain. All Cain murders are pre-meditated. In 'My Wife's Murder', murder is an accident."

Director Jijy Philip reveals: "I was assisting Ramuji on 'Bhoot' when he bounced this idea off me and gave me the opportunity to direct it. It was a great idea and I was excited immediately. Atul had already written a draft when I came on board after finishing the post-production of 'Bhoot'.

"The draft was good but I wanted to probe deeper into the psyche of Ravi Patwardhan after he commits the murder. It was an ordeal. I and Atul spent six months together going through every kind of psychological detail possible and incorporating it in the story."

He adds: "'My Wife's Murder' is not a murder mystery that plays hide and seek with the audience. It deals more with the mind of a murderer after he has opened that Pandora's box that he cannot shut. Finally after six months and 12 drafts, the script of 'My Wife's Murder' was ready."

"I liked the script on the first reading itself," says actor Anil Kapoor, adding he always wanted to work with Varma and the two had on several occasions discussed lots of stories but nothing materialised.

"My Wife's Murder" is the first film the versatile actor Anil and the innovative producer-director Varma are doing together.

Casting was a tough process because Philip was adamant about breaking all rules. Suchitra Krishnamoorthy who had taken a sabbatical after "Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na" was the first to be added to the list after Anil.

"We had sent the script with apprehensions because she had not been accepting any assignments. But I wanted her so I took my chance and Ramuji backed my decision," says Philip. "I was elated when she said yes."

Even the rest of the cast included people who are very selective about the roles they do. Boman Irani and Nandana Dev Sen were added to the list after they gave their nods and the lead cast was done.

Once the cast was in place, the top floor of Anil's Juhu bungalow was used for rehearsals where the director, the writer and members of the cast assembled and did the script reading together.

"Anilji's (Anil Kapoor) preparation for the character was awe inspiring. When we started shooting, he would come on a bicycle everyday to the location with his Mercedes following him and would have his bath in one dirty bathroom on the location and not in his van. It helped him to get into the skin of the middle class Ravi Patwardhan."

On his role, Anil said: "It was one of those roles that you get to play only once or twice in your career and I wanted to go all the way for it. It was challenging both physically and mentally. I had given up smoking but since the character Ravi Patwardhan smoked in tension so I had to take up the vice again."