The first look of Ratham, CS Amudhan's upcoming film with Vijay Antony, was released on the occasion of the actor's birthday. Featuring an intense and bearded Vijay Antony holding a cane, the poster has the tagline, 'When the land was plunged into darkness, one man stood up to fight.'

The film is billed as a crime drama and is a far cry from the films that director Amudhan is known for. "I don't consider spoof films to be my brand of cinema. In fact, films like Ratham are what I wanted to make, but Thamizh Padam just happened," says the filmmaker, adding, "Ratham is more on the lines of a Vikram Vedha or a Vikram, which works more as a crime drama and a procedural rather than a thriller."

Doubts about Ratham being a thriller are par for the course because the film stars Vijay Antony, who is known to revel in this genre. Talking about this collaboration, Amudhan shares that Ratham was a project that was a long time in the making. "In fact, Vijay and I constantly discussed working in a film together,  but it never fell in place till Ratham."

Backed by Kamal Bohra, G Dhananjayan, B Pradeep, and Pankaj Bohra of Infiniti Film Ventures, Ratham is in the last leg of shooting, which will take place in the UK. "We are waiting for the visa formalities to be completed to accommodate the cast and crew required for the shoot," says Amudhan. 

Apart from Vijay Antony, Ratham features Mahima Nambiar, Nandita Swetha, Ramya Nambeesan, Jagan, Nizhalgal Ravi, and John Mahendran among others.

While Kannan is composing the music for Ratham, Gopi Amarnath and Suresh will be handling the cinematography and editing, respectively.

Details about the release are expected to be out soon after the filming is wrapped up.