At just 20 years old, composer Sai Abhyankkar has quickly become one of Tamil cinema’s most promising young music directors. But despite his rising popularity, he insists there’s no truth to rumours of a rivalry between him and hitmaker Anirudh Ravichander.

“That is not true. Anirudh has done a lot. I have only now started,” Sai clarified when asked about the supposed competition during the pre-release event of Balti, Unni Sivalingam’s bilingual sports action drama. “With all your prayers and blessings, I am only looking forward to working more. There is no competition at all.”

The event, which also marked Sai’s first-ever press meet, showcased the music director’s growing presence in the industry. Balti also marks his debut in Malayalam cinema. Speaking about the soundtrack, lead actor Shane Nigam praised the young composer, saying he was “addicted” to the songs and felt proud to have Sai scoring the music for the film.

Sai Abhyankkar first shot to fame with his viral independent single 'Katchi Sera', which caught the attention of filmmakers and catapulted him into the limelight. Since then, he has signed on to an impressive lineup of projects: Suriya’s 45th film, Pradeep Ranganathan’s Dude, and Allu Arjun’s much-anticipated Atlee-directed film, currently referred to as AA22XA6. He is also on board for Simbu’s upcoming project with Dawn Pictures, tentatively titled STR49, as well as Karthi's Marshal.

Balti, which marks the directorial debut of Unni Sivalingam, marks Shane Nigam's milestone 25th film. The film also stars Preethi Asrani, Shanthnu Bhagyaraj, Selvaraghavan, and Alphonse Puthren, among others. The film is slated to hit theatres on September 26.