Harish Kalyan, last seen in Lubber Pandhu, is currently gearing up for the release of Diesel, which is set to hit theatres on October 17, alongside Dhruv Vikram's Bison and Pradeep Ranganathan's Dude. Tamil cinema is going through a fundamental change with the festive season encouraging budding talents, rather than stars. However, Harish Kalyan says that the judgement is still there when it comes to films with smaller production value or films without stars garnering a festive release.
Speaking at a Behindwoods event recently, Harish recalled an incident that took place just days ago. "I’ve always believed that a film should speak for itself; we shouldn’t have to talk much about it. But I want to share something that happened recently. Just 10–15 days ago, someone asked my producer what eligibility our film had for a Deepavali release. They asked if Diesel had a big director, a star hero or heroine, or a famous composer."
He continued, "Honestly, that question broke my heart. I don’t understand what makes a film eligible for a festival release. Why can’t a film with good content release for Deepavali? With that belief, we’re coming to theatres this festive season, with confidence in our film and faith in the audience." His words were received with applause by the audience.
Without saying much, he concluded his speech by saying, "There’s a saying: a lakh of matchsticks can be made from a single tree, but one matchstick can burn a lakh trees. So, it’s wrong to undervalue anyone. I’ve watched many Thalaivar, Ajith sir, and Vijay sir films during Deepavali. Now, to have Diesel releasing for the festival — that itself feels like a big step in my journey."
Diesel is written and directed by Shanmugam Muthusamy. The rest of the cast of the film includes Athulyaa Ravi, Vinay Rai, Sai Kumar, Ananya, Karunaas, Ramesh Tilak, Kaali Venkat, Vivek Prasanna, Sachin Kedhekar, Zakir Husain, Thangadurai, KPY Dheena, and Apoorva Singh.
The film is produced by Devarajulu Markandeyan. V Kishore Kumar serves as an executive producer for the film. Third Eye Entertainment and SP Cinemas are the banners backing the film.
The technical crew of the film includes MS Prabhu and Richard M Nathan as the cinematographers, San Lokesh as the editor, Scarecrow as the production designer, and Stunt Selva and Rajasekhar as the action choreographers.