The makers of Athiradi on Sunday unveiled the character poster of Basil Joseph, revealing his role as Samkutty aka SamBoy, and confirmed that the film will release in theatres during Onam 2026. An exact release date is yet to be announced. Along with Basil, the project brings together Tovino Thomas and Vineeth Sreenivasan in lead roles.
Largely set on a college campus, Athiradi also features Sarvam Maya-fame Riya Shibu as one of the female leads. It marks the directorial debut of Arun Anirudhan, who previously co-wrote Minnal Murali and Padayottam. He has scripted the upcoming film alongside Paulson Skaria, known for co-writing Neymar and Kaathal – The Core.
Athiradi is the maiden production venture of Basil Joseph Entertainment and Dr Ananthu Entertainment, the latter headed by Dr Ananthu, founder and CEO of Xylem Learning. Tovino and cinematographer-filmmaker Sameer Thahir are also attached as co-producers. The film’s technical team includes music director Vishnu Vijay, cinematographer Samuel Henry and editor Chaman Chakko.
A title teaser of Athiradi released earlier showed Tovino and Basil as apparent rivals, with Vineeth’s character acting as a catalyst between them. The teaser cut between Basil in a pub setting and a mundu-clad Tovino at a temple festival, and concluded with Vineeth mimicking Kamal Haasan’s famous line, “Arambikkalangala”.