Sivakarthikeyan in the first-glimpse video of ‘Madharasi’.
From the beginning, the anticipation surrounding Sivakarthikeyan’s film with AR Murugadoss, Madharasi — the title teaser of which dropped today, on the star’s birthday — has been sky-high. Pictures and videos of the star from the shooting of the film in Chennai and Pondicherry flooded social media sites, further priming fans of the Amaran-star for an action-packed spectacle.
But what’s the buzz all about? How different is Madharasi from any other big-star film?
An ace filmmaker targets a redemption arc:
It isn’t news that Murugadoss hasn’t had a purple patch in a long time and has been waiting to make a comeback with a biggie. After the debacle that his film with Rajinikanth, Darbar, turned out to be, there’s expectation to see the Ramana-director bring his A-game to the fore.
Interestingly, Murugadoss is the most experienced filmmaker Sivakarthikeyan has collaborated with in his decade-long career. Among the directors SK has worked with, only Ezhil S (Manam Kothi Paravai) and Mohan Raja (Velaikkaran) come second to the experience Murugadoss boasts. Also, did you know that this isn’t the first creative collaboration between Sivakarthikeyan and Murugadoss? The latter penned the story and co-produced Siva’s 2014 hit Maan Karate (which also had music by Anirudh Ravichander)
AR Murugadoss with Sivakarthikeyan.
ALSO READ: A.R. Murugadoss on working with Ajith and why their ‘Mirattal’ was dropped
‘Madharasi’ was reportedly Murugadoss’ pitch to Vijay
According to several news reports, Murugadoss had initially pitched a project to Tamil superstar Vijay in 2020, in what would have been their fourth collaboration after Thuppakki, Kaththi, and Sarkar. Sun Pictures, the banner behind Sarkar, was set to back the film. Then tentatively called Thalapathy 65, the film’s music was said to be scored by Varisu composer Thaman S. However, due to unknown reasons, the project was dropped. Sun Pictures went on to produce the actor’s 65th film, Beast, with Nelson Dilipkumar.
The biggest hype surrounding Madharasi is the buzz that is the story that was originally pitched to Vijay. That a filmmaker who gave a Thuppakki — a film that elevated Vijay to superstardom — is returning to the action thriller genre is surely something, but remember, this also means that the screenplay is Vijay-approved! It seems Vijay has passed on the ‘thuppakki’ to Sivakarthikeyan in more ways than one.
Sivakarthikeyan on a quest towards super-stardom
Without a doubt, Madharasi will be a mainstream actioner that doesn’t alienate Sivakarthikeyan’s core audience: families. Siva has restated time and again that he wishes to make films for all age groups, and that he wouldn’t do a niche film or a gore-fest that makes you squirm. That said, this was the same star who made Doctor, a dark comedy with ‘finger-cutting’ and bloody kills. From the looks of it, Madharasi too seems to follow suit; Siva appears in his most rugged look yet and is expected to play a man who uses brute force to get the job done. This is undoubtedly yet another attempt from Siva to prove his versatility as a star.
What’s in a title?
Have you also noticed how most of Sivakarthikeyan’s titles are borrowed from old Tamil films? (Like, Ethir Neechal, Velaikkaran, Kaakki Sattai, Maaveeran, and Amaran) His upcoming film with Sudha Kongara, Parasakthi, is a hat-tip to the iconic Sivaji Ganesan-starrer, while Madrasi is the title of Siva’s Hero co-star Arjun’s 2006 directorial.
Murugadoss and his Hindi film with another SK!
Murugadoss is in the news for yet another film with an SK — Salman Khan! The director is helming the Hindi superstar’s upcoming Sikander, and fans of Salman might have their eyes set on Madharasi to see how the form the director is in.
Sivakarthikeyan, AR Murugadoss and Anirudh Ravichander
The ‘A’ factor
Madharasi also marks the reunion between Murugadoss and music composer Anirudh Ravichander after 2014’s Kaththi, which turned out to be Anirudh’s breakout big-star project. Notably, it’s also a reunion between the hit combo of Sivakarthikeyan and Anirudh, who had last teamed up for Nelson’s Doctor.
Biju Menon
A veteran in Malayalam, Biju Menon is returning to Tamil cinema after 15 years with Madharasi. The actor had previously starred in a handful of Tamil titles such as Majaa, Pazhani and Thambi. Thanks to his popular turn as Ayyappan Nair in Ayyappanum Koshiyum, Biju is now a popular figure among Tamil audiences. Let’s now hope he gets enough screen space to cement his position in Tamil.
Rukmini Vasanth
Madharasi would also mark one of Rukmini Vasanth’s first appearances in Tamil cinema (her debut, however, is Vijay Sethupathi’s upcoming film, Ace). After her breakout performance in the Kannada film Sapta Saagaradaache Ello, Rukmini now has her eyes set on the other southern Indian states.
Sivakarthikeyan with Rukmini Vasanth
Vidyut Jammwal
Who doesn’t remember Vidyut’s scintillating performance as the baddie in Vijay’s Thuppakki! With Madharasi, Vidyut is returning to Tamil cinema and with the director who gave him his breakout role.
Here’s the title teaser of Madharasi
Published – February 17, 2025 05:49 pm IST
