Vikram Prabhu's 25th film, Sirai, helmed by Suresh Rajakumari, is gearing up to hit theatres. The film sees the actor in the role of a cop, after Taanakkaran, reuniting with Tamizh, from whom the story for the film has stemmed. With the actor set to collaborate with the Taanakkaran team again and the story set around a protagonist who is a police officer, many pointed out similarities between the two stories. However, the cinematographer for both films, Madhesh Manickam, has reassured that there's really no chance for the films to be similar.

"There’s really no chance for visual similarity between Taanakkaran and Sirai," he told CE in an exclusive interview. "The former was set in a police training environment, so the uniform was white. In Sirai, he plays a khaki-uniformed police officer, and that distinction itself brings a clear variation."

On the story, he added, "Also, Taanakkaran largely unfolded in a single location, whereas Sirai moves across multiple spaces and even includes a flashback, making the worlds entirely different."

From his side, Madhesh also took some steps to ensure the variation. "From the pre-production stage, we were careful to avoid any overlap in the look and feel of both films, especially in terms of locations." Lastly, he reiterates that both the characters and their looks are also entirely different. "Vikram Prabhu sir also gained weight for this role, and we added a bruise on his face to further change his appearance. We’ve done everything possible to differentiate Taanakkaran's Arivu from Sirai's Kathir."

Suresh Rajakumari, who is set to make his directorial debut with the film, has written the screenplay of the film along with Tamizh. In the lead role, the film also stars LK Akshay Kumar, who is producer SS Lalit Kumar's son. The rest of the cast includes Anishma Anilkumar, making her Tamil debut, and Anantha. The rest of the crew of the film consists of Justin Prabhakaran as the music composer, Philomin Raj as the editor, and Raghava Sanjivi as the production designer.

SS Lalit Kumar is producing Sirai under his 7 Screen Studios banner. LK Vishnu Kumar is serving as the co-producer for the film, with Arun K and Manikandan serving as the executive producers and Arosam serving as the creative producer. The film is gearing up to hit theatres on December 25. It will release alongside Arun Vijay's Retta Thala.