Thalapathy 64: All you need to know about Vijay's next with Kaithi director Lokesh Kanagaraj

Vijay’s Bigil has surpassed the box office numbers of all Tamil films released this year. It is also one of Tamil cinema's highest grossers that was not led by Rajinikanth.

Most of Bigil's distributors and exhibitors got back a hefty return on their investment after the film's release. Despite its mammoth budget worth Rs 180 crore, the film was profitable for all parties associated. In an industry known for celebrating success with grand parties, Vijay silently moved on to his next project, a yet-untitled action thriller, dubbed Thalapathy 64 by fans, by Lokesh Kanagaraj of Kaithi-fame.

Vijay. Image from Twitter @SSMusicTweet

After concluding the first schedule in Chennai, the team is currently shooting in New Delhi for a sequence set in a college. Vijay will be seen as a college professor with an untold dark side.

The film’s cast boasts of established actors and young faces including Vijay Sethupathi, Antony Varghese (Angamaly Diaries), Malavika Mohanan, Andrea (Vishwaroopam), Ramya Subramanian, Gauri Kishan (96), Brigada, Lintu Rony, Soundarya Nandakumar, Shanthanu, Chetan, Srinath, Sriman, and Alagam Perumal.

While Sethupathi will play the baddie, Varghese will also have a negative character arc, and Andrea's role will have shades of grey. She will be a part of a lot of action scenes for which she is undergoing special training. Malavika Mohanan, Shanthanu, Kishan, Nandakumar, Subramanian, Brigada, and Rony are a part of the college sequence.

While interacting with the media after his recent blockbuster Kaithi, Kanagaraj had said, “I will not be making any compromise in my style of filmmaking. The next one with Vijay sir will also be my kind of film”.

It is worth mentioning that Kaithi was one of the rare Tamil films without any songs. “Though Lokesh Kanagaraj has placed a few songs in his film with Vijay, it will not be affecting the flow of the screenplay. Also, the romantic track will be mature and not silly like most of the Tamil mainstream films”, said a source close to the team.

Sources also tell Firstpost that Vijay has given more than 100 days for the film, which is likely to be wrapped in around 120 days without any big break. Sethupathi is busy with multiple films in several languages so, Vijay has suggested Kanagaraj shoot the Super Deluxe actor's portions from December. Kanagaraj plans to wrap all scenes featuring Sethupathi in one go so that the actor can proceed with his work on other projects.

Thalapathy 64's producers, XB Film Creators, are planning a grand release in Tamil and Telugu on 9 April, 2020. The team is working hard to complete the entire shoot by February end in order to have a month for post-production.

“From outsiders’ point of view, the film may look like a quick project but all the cast members are working 24*7 without break. Generally, in other biggies, the gap between two schedules would be at least two to three weeks but here the maximum break for the team is one week”, added a source close to the team.

Handling the pollution in Delhi has reportedly been another tedious task for the team. They are avoiding early morning shoots to avoid the adverse effect of pollution.

Sathyan Sooryan who cranked the camera for Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru is handling the Thalapathy 64's cinematography. Silva has been roped in to choreograph the action scenes. Unlike Silva’s previous films, Kanagaraj asked the choreographer to execute raw and realistic stunts in tandem with the overall mood of the film. Anirudh Ravichander, who delivered the chartbuster Kaththi in 2014 is composing the music for Thalapathy 64.

While there are reports saying that Vijay's character is inspired by Kamal Haasan's 1995 drama Nammavar (he played a professor with cancer), sources close to the team have dismissed it as a rumour. Kanagaraj, who is a known fan of Haasan, had previously said that Karthi's character in Kaithi was inspired by the veteran actor's protagonist in Virumandi (2004).