The official release date of Rajinikanth’s 170th film titled ‘Vettaiyan’ is announced.
Vettaiyan is scheduled to be released worldwide on 10 October 2024, coinciding with the Dusshera festival. Vettaiyan is a large scale action-drama film starring an ensemble cast of Rajnikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Fahadh Faasil, Rana Daggubati, Manju Warrier, Ritika Singh, and Dushara Vijayan among others.
The film is written and directed by T. J Gnanavel and produced by Subaskaran Allirajah of Lyca Productions. T. J Gnanavel previously directed the critically acclaimed Tamil film Jai Bhim (2021) starring Suriya. Lyca Productions has produced several blockbuster Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi films such as Ponniyin Selvan: I, Ponniyin Selvan: II, 2.0, Vada Chennai, and Ram Sethu.
Film director T. J Gnanavel was previously thinking of signing his last hero Suriya for Vettaiyan. T. J Gnanavel narrated the script of Vettaiyan to Suriya during the filming of Jai Bhim (2021) and the actor proved it back then. But later Suriya dropped out of the project due to his commitment to other films.
In July 2022, T. J Gnanavel confirmed that he would start working on Vettaiyan with actor Vijay or Rajinikanth in the lead. Later, Lyca Productions officially announced the film with Rajnikanth as the main lead. After working together in film 2.0 (2018), Lyca Productions still had a two film deal with Rajinikanth and this is how Lyca Productions came on board to produce Vettaiyan. The film is made on a budget of 160 crores. It is one of the most expensive Tamil films. The film is shot in many locations such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kerala, and Puducherry. The film will premiere on Amazon Prime Video post its theatrical release.
The title of the film was announced on 12 December 2023 on Rajinikanth’s 73rd birthday.
Vettaiyan is set to release on 10 October 2024. Interestingly, the film is set to clash with Suriya’s Pan India film ‘Kanguva’ which releases on the same day. Kanguva is a high-budget fantasy action film starring Suriya, Bobby Deol, and Disha Patani among others. The film is directed by Siva and it is one of the most awaited Indian films of 2024. Both Vettaiyan and Kanguva will find it hard to compete with each other in the southern states of India.
Vettaiyan also clashes with the much awaited Hindi thriller film ‘Jigra’ which releases on 11 October 2024. Jigra is directed by Vasan Bala and produced by Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehta. The film stars popular Indian actress Alia Bhatt as the main lead. While Vettaiyan and Kanguva are originally Tamil films, they will find it hard to compete with Jigra in the northern states of India.
Vettaiyan is said to be the Tamil debut film of legendary Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan. He previously shared the screen with his good friend Rajinikanth in the 1991 Hindi film ‘Hum’. Vettaiyan is the fifth Tamil film for Malayalam actor Fahadh Faasil, who is highly hailed as one of India’s finest actors. He was last seen in the 2022 Tamil film ‘Vikram’ directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj starring Kamal Hassan and Vijay Sethupathi among others. Fahadh Faasil is playing a comedy dynamic character, similar to what he played in his 2024 blockbuster film Aavesham.
All the actresses such as Manju Warrier, Ritika Singh, and Dushara Vijayan are playing the female lead in the movie. Baahubali fame ‘Rana Daggubati’ will be seen playing a prominent role in the film. While the superstar Rajinikanth plays the role of a Muslim police officer in the film.
Rajinikanth has played the police officer role in many of his films including his last film Jailer (2023) which emerged as the highest grossing Tamil film of 2023 and the second highest grossing Tamil film of all time. The film grossed over 600 crores globally. Jailer was directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. The film music was composed by popular young singer and music composer Anirudh Ravichander.
Anirudh Ravichander is also composing music for Vettaiyan. Anirudh is the most demanded music composer in India right now. Previously he has composed music for several blockbuster films such as Master, Vikram, Jailer, Jawan, Beast, and Leo. His upcoming projects are Vettaiyan, Devara Part: 1, and Coolie among others.
Rajinikanth is amongst the highest-paid actors in India, one of the biggest superstars of the country, and one of the most influential and loved artists in India. Before Jailer (2023) his last big hit film came in 2018 which was the scientific action film ‘2.0’. following the success of Jailer, Rajinikanth signed a few more high-budget action films including Vettaiyan. While in India Vettaiyan will be released on 10 October 2024, the film will be released a day earlier in many Arab countries. It is the second film of 2024 for Amitabh Bachchan who is enjoying the success of his recently released film Kalki 2898 AD which is one of the highest-grossing Indian films ever.
Popular Tamil film director Lokesh Kanagaraj who has previously directed blockbuster films such as Leo, Vikram, Master, and Kaithi has signed Rajnikanth for its next. He is also the founder of LCU (Lokesh Cinematic Universe). He founded LCU following the success of Kaithi, the first film installment of LCU. Followed by Vikram (2022), the second installment of LCU, and Leo (2023), the third installment of LCU. All of his films rank as the highest-grossing Tamil films of all time. He will be directing more films for LCU in the future but for now, he is directing a standalone film titled ‘Coolie’ which will star Rajnikanth in the lead.
Rajnikanth is expected to start shooting for Coolie once Vettaiyan is released. Coolie is set to release in 2025 with several popular Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam actors joining the cast. Superstar Aamir Khan is expected to make a special appearance in the film.
Rajnikanth will also star in the sequel of Jailer (2023) titled Jailer 2. The film will be again directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. At age 73, following a magnificent movie career in India and working in more than 170+ films, Rajnikanth is dedicated and working hard like never before. He is keen on doing massive action films.