Vijay's next film will be a big-budget action thriller; Kiara Advani in talks for female lead

Producer Xavier Britto announced last week that his production house is all set to return to Tamil cinema with Vijay’s big-budget action thriller to be directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj who made an impressive debut with the hyperlink thriller Maanagaram in 2017. Britto’s family had produced Vijay’s initial set of films like Rasigan and Sendhoorapandi. Now, nearly after two decades, they are getting into production.

In his official statement, Xavier Britto said: "Previously, I had the opportunity to produce three movies of Thalapathy Vijay. Now, I am very proud to announce that my next with him is all set to begin in October 2019. We at XB Film Creators promise you to bring the film to the theaters in April 2020”. Interestingly, Ajith's soon to be commenced action thriller with Vinoth also targets Summer 2020 release so the trade is anticipating the clash of the titans.

Tamil actor Vijay. Image courtesy: news18

On the birthday of Vijay’s mom Shoba, Xavier Britto official announced the film along with the technical crew. Anirudh Ravichander who composed music for Vijay’s Kaththi and Rajinikanth’s Petta will take care of the songs and background score for this biggie. Apart from Anirudh, Lokesh Kanagaraj has retained his core team which worked along with him in his debut film Maanagaram and his yet to be release sophomore directorial Kaithi.

Sathyan Sooryan of Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru fame will be handling the camera, young editor Philomin Raj will take care of the cuts and action choreographer ‘Stunt’ Silva who worked with Vijay in many blockbusters is also onboard for the film.

Sources say that the producers have approached Kiara Advani to play the female lead in the film. The Kabir Singh actress is impressed with the script but as the shoot will begin in October, she is currently working on her dates. The team is also said to be in talks with a veteran actor to play the antagonist. But the biggest challenge for Lokesh Kanagaraj is to get all these big names on board within just one month because Vijay is keen to begin the shoot in October and instructed him to release it in April for Summer holidays.

Vijay has also appointed his longtime associate Jagadish as the line-producer of the film. It is being said that the actor wants to start his own production house but considering the difficulty in monitoring it, he assembled this young team comprising of his trusted family members and colleagues. Sources tell us that Vijay has plans to do content-driven mainstream films with this newly formed team.

However, after a long time, Vijay will be missing his lucky ‘Diwali’ release, as Lokesh Kanagaraj’s film is scheduled to hit the screens in April 2020. Meanwhile, Vijay has completed the shoot of his magnum opus sports action entertainer Bigil.

“Vijay will soon start dubbing for his portions in Bigil and wrap up all his work for the film within September second week. After spending two weeks with his family, he will begin shooting for Lokesh Kanagaraj’s film from October first week,” says a source close to the actor.