Director Pandiraaj, who is awaiting the release of his film Thalaivan Thalaivii, recently revealed that he rewrote the script of the Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen-starrer 18 times before finaling its current version.
Speaking with IANS, Pandiraaj said that the film's story was inspired by two people he met when he had gone for a family function. "The plot has been inspired by two characters I met when I went along with my family to the temple of my ancestors on the occasion of my son's birthday. You can't make a film just like how things transpire. So, this film is partly based on the idea of how things would be if instead of what happened, something else had occurred. I started writing it with the intention of keeping it simple. But the more I wrote, it changed into something else."
The director had to constantly refine the script before finalising its current version. "There were 18 drafts before I arrived at the final script," he said, noting that it took almost took him a year to complete the process.
The recently-released glimpse established that Vijay Sethupathi plays Agasaveeran and Nithya Menen portrays Perarasi. They play a couple who love cooking and eating food, and share a dynamic relationship with each other. Along with character introductions of Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen, the glimpse also offers a detailed introduction of the various characters that the actors are set to portray in the film. Yogi Babu will be seen as Chitthirai, Chemban Vinod Jose as Arasangam, Saravanan as Sembaiyya, Kaali Venkat as Amarasigamani, and many more.
Thalaivan Thalaivii also stars RK Suresh, Mynaa Nandhini, Deepa, Roshini Haripriyan, and Sendrayan, among others. The film, Vijay Sethupathi’s 52nd, is produced under the Sathya Jyothi Films banner.
Thalaivan Thalaivii brings Vijay and Nithya back together after their work on the 2022 Malayalam film 19(1)(a). On the technical front, the film has cinematographer M Sukumar, composer Santhosh Narayanan, and editor Pradeep E Ragav. Pandiraaj has previously helmed films like Pasanga, Kadaikutty Singam and Etharkkum Thunindhavan.
The upcoming romantic comedy film is scheduled to hit theatres on July 25.