Vikram Prabhu's next goes on floors

Vikram Prabhu plays a police officer in an upcoming film from producer SS Lalit Kumar of SS Screen Studios, the banner behind Vijay's Master and Leo. The film, which went on floors on Monday, marks the directorial debut of Suresh, who worked with Vetri Maaran as his associate since 2015’s Visaranai. The upcoming film is based on a story by director Tamizh, who is best known for 2022's Taanakkaran. Speaking about the plot of the yet-to-be-titled film, Suresh says, “It is based on a real incident that happened to Tamizh while he was working as a police officer. It follows a cop as he takes a young accused to court. During their journey, he gets to learn about the accused’s past.”

However, the director says that fictional elements are added to the real-life story. “The incident dates back to 2003, and we looked for the real young man to ask him about the case to learn what happened to him. But we could not find him. Therefore, we had to fictionalise the story.” On whether his directorial debut will have aspects echoing Vetri Maaran’s gritty storytelling, Suresh says, “There are indeed some similar elements. For instance, it touches upon the world of people who spend many years as undertrial prisoners. However, we are not delving too deep into the dark themes. Ultimately, it is a hopeful story about the transformational impact of a cop on one such prisoner.” Producer Lalit Kumar’s son, LK Akshay Kumar stars as the young man who stands accused of committing a crime. The filmmaker promises an authentic portrayal of a police officer from Vikram Prabhu. “Vikram plays a normal, everyday cop with his own set of limitations, not a high-ranking officer. The character empathises with the young man since he feels there is an element of truth to his story.”

The yet-to-be-titled film stars Ananda as the female lead, opposite Vikram’s character. It also marks the Tamil debut of Malayalam actor Anishma Anilkumar, of I AM Kathalan fame. On the technical front, it has composer Justin Prabhakaran. Suresh says that he plans to shoot Justin’s compositions in a way that propels the story as montages instead of commercial songs. The technical team also includes cinematographer Madhesh Manickam and editor Philomin Raj. The makers plan to shoot the film in Chennai, Vellore, and Sivagangai.