Actor Suriya and director Bala will reunite for a new project, almost two decades after their last collaboration, the actor announced on Thursday.
Suriya took to Twitter and wrote in Tamil, “He is someone who had more faith in me than I had in myself. He introduced me to a new world and gave me an identity. After 20 years, I am standing in front of him with the same enthusiasm. With my father’s blessings, I am starting another beautiful journey with my Bala anna. I would like to request everyone’s continued love and support.”
No other information about the upcoming project has been disclosed.
While Suriya made his acting debut in 1997 with Nerrukku Ner, his big break came with Bala’s 2001 film Nandha, which also marked their first collaboration.
“Looking to put behind a past that haunts him, Nandha tries to reconcile with his mother and live life on his terms,” reads IMDb‘s synopsis of the film that earned Suriya the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.
The film featured Laila, Rajkiran, Saravanan, and Rajshree, alongside Suriya. It also marked the debut of comedian Karunas. While R Rathnavelu served as the film’s cinematographer, Yuvan Shankar Raja scored the music.
The duo’s next outing was the 2003 film Pithamagan, which co-starred Vikram, Sangeetha and Laila. “Chittan (Vikram), a social outcast, has grown up in a cemetery. A drug dealer finds him a job in a cannabis farm. In prison, he meets a conman, Shakti (Suriya). Their friendship transforms him from his stony existence,” reads IMDb‘s synopsis of the film, that also reunited the two with Laila.
The film, which marked Bala and Suriya’s last collaboration, had music by Ilaiyaraaja and cinematography by Balasubramaniem.
Pithamagan was a big winner at the Filmfare Awards South, where it won in all the major categories, including Best Film (Tamil), Best Actor and Actress in leading as well as supporting categories, and the Best Director award. Vikram also won the National Film Award for Best Actor.
Bala’s most recent release was Varmaa, the Tamil remake of the Telugu hit Arjun Reddy. Varmaa premiered digitally on October 6, 2020 after its release was halted in 2019 due to create differences.
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“We at E4 Entertainment are not at all happy with the final version handed over to us (Director Bala had made the film on a first copy basis) and due to various creative and other differences, we have decided not to release this version,” producer of the film, Mukesh Mehta had said in a statement.
The film was later reshot entirely with Bala replaced by director Gireesaaya, whose version of the film, titled Adithya Varma, got a theatrical release.
Suriya, meanwhile, was last seen in the Netflix anthology film Navarasa. His upcoming releases include Amazon Prime Video‘s Jai Bhim, and Vetrimaaran‘s Vaadivasal.