The teaser of No.6 Vaathiyaar Kaalpanthatta Kuzhu, the upcoming Tamil film, written and directed by S Hari Uthraa, was released by actor Vijay Sethupathi on social media on Thursday.
Hari, who has also co-produced the film with Prithi Shankar and R Usha, told Silverscreen India that the film is a sports drama based on football. “The plot deals with a group of boys based in a village in Tamil Nadu who belong to the labour class and are financially poor. However, they have an aim to make it big in football.”
About the title of the film, Hari said, “In this village, there is a coach who runs a training club that is named, like the title, No.6 Vaathiyaar Kaalpanthatta Kuzhu. The coach plays a pivotal role as he helps the children play in tournaments and achieve their goals.”
The film’s cast includes Sharath and Ayraa as protagonists, and Mathan as a coach, as well as Ganja Karuppu, Sona Heiden, Gajaraj, Mahendran, and Elayaa, among others. According to the filmmaker, most of the cast members have played football during their college days. In addition, Sivaganga-based Star Muslim Football Club trained the actors in January, he added.
Stunt coordinator Knife Naren plays the antagonist in the film, a don named Rathnam who owns all the mills and factories in the village.
“Rathnam tries to stop the boys’ game. He thinks that the boys actively pursuing football might ruin his business and he may run out of employees to work in his factories. He uses cheap politics to stop them from being selected. At one stage, when the coach confronts the villain for ruining the boys’ chances, he gets murdered. The rest of the story follows the boys as they avenge the death of their coach, with the support of the public,” said Hari.
Hari began to work on the script of No.6 Vaathiyaar Kaalpanthatta Kuzhu in March 2020, after the release of his last film, Galtha.
“Soon after the release of Galtha, I wanted to do a sports drama based on football. Most films based on sports do not address local politics. Only a few films like Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu (2009) and Lagaan (2001) have touched upon such issues. Films like Bigil have talked about issues from a national and international perspective. I wanted to bring a new approach to the script of No.6 Vaathiyaar Kaalpanthatta Kuzhu, by touching upon the street-level politics,” he said.
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The film will feature four songs, composed by AJ Alimirzaq. “All four songs have been recorded,” Hari added.
No.6 Vaathiyaar Kaalpanthatta Kuzhu is in the final stages of post-production, and according to the filmmaker, the first copy of the film should be ready in 1-2 weeks. The film was shot in February in Madurai, Paramakudi, Rameswaram, and Sivaganga.
Talking about the release, Hari said that the team is in talks with a few OTT platforms. “One of them is Amazon Prime Video. We are in the final stages of discussion. Our second choice, if not Amazon, is to release the film on a pay-per-view platform. We are also looking to release it in theatres and might opt for that if they are open by the time we complete the film,” Hari added.