Rajinikanth starrer Thalaivar 168 has now been titled Annaatthe. Helmed by director Siva, the film is being bankrolled by Kalanithi Maran under his Sun Pictures banner. The announcement came from a tweet by the makers.
#Thalaivar168 is #Annaatthe#அண்ணாத்த@rajinikanth @directorsiva @KeerthyOfficial @immancomposer@prakashraaj @khushsundar @sooriofficial @actorsathish pic.twitter.com/GtaYEoKf6N
— Sun Pictures (@sunpictures) February 24, 2020
Recently, actress Nayanthara, who was last seen with the actor in his previous film Darbar, was roped in for this film too. This marks the fourth association of the two after Chandramukhi, Kuselan, and Darbar. Apart from the actor, National Award-winning actress Keerthy Suresh, and actors Prakash Raj, Soori, Sathish, Meena, and Khushbu are also a part of the project.
While Soori and Sathish will be working with Rajinikanth for the first time, Prakash Raj was last seen with the actor as IG Subramaniam in Padayappa (1999), Meena as Ranganayaki in Muthu (1995), and Khushbu as Rekha in Pandiyan (1992).
“Working with Superstar Rajinikanth in this film produced by Sun Pictures is a dream come true for an actor like me. A mere selfie with the actor would in itself bring one happiness and knowing that I get to play a role with the star in a film makes me feel elated. Director Siva who is an expert with commercial subjects is helming this film which makes it all the more special. I’m excited to be a part of this crew,” said actor Soori.
“This is a 25-year-old dream come true for me. I could say it’s the best wedding gift I would ever receive. I thank the entire team for giving me this opportunity,” actor Sathish had said.
Meena said, “This is the first time I’ll be associating with Sun Pictures and director Siva, but this is a reunion of sorts with Rajini sir for which I’m really excited. The story has been penned really well and I play a jovial character in the film which the audience is bound to love. Eagerly looking forward to the shoot of Thalaivar 168.”
“I have kept away from Tamil films for about nine years with the sole reason to feature in a good film, and Thalaivar 168 is one such film. I have worked with Rajini sir in several films and I am extremely happy and excited to work with him again. The audience has always accepted us as a good on-screen pair and I hope they do so in this film too. It will be a different character compared to my earlier films,” said Khushbu.
The puja of Annaatthe took place on December 11, 2019, and shooting commenced at the end of the month.
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The film will have music composed by D Imman, cinematography by Vetri Palanisamy, editing by Ruben, and art by Milan. Dilip Subbarayan is handling stunts with Brinda and Prem Rakshith choreographing dance. Anu Vardhan, Dhatsha Pillai, Shravya Varma, Anu Parthasarathy, and Sangeetha are working on costumes. Lyricists Viveka and Mani Amudhavan are penning lyrics, Aadhi Narayana is co-writing the script and Siva, Chandran, Savithri Muthu, and Bhagyaraj are jointly writing dialogues for Annaatthe.
Meanwhile, Rajinikanth’s Darbar is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Helmed by director AR Murugadoss, the film featured the actor as a cop ‘Aaditya Arunasalam’, long after his 1992 action-drama Pandian.
Read: Darbar Movie Review: Rajinikanth’s ‘Bad Cop’ Film Is Fun In Flashes And Tedious At Other Times
Watch the Darbar trailer here.