The life of Darkkey Nagaraja, known widely as Darkkey, is being adapted into a feature film, titled Aku Darkkey. One of the pioneers of Malaysian Sambarock, Darkkey was recently seen in the Ajith Kumar-starrer Good Bad Ugly, performing his song 'Arakana', which was titled 'AK The Tiger' in the film's album.
Darkkey found fame when he released the single 'Akkamage' along with his band, The Keys. He then released a full-fledged album, also titled 'Arakana'. In cinema, Darkkey most famously featured in 'Ulagam Oruvanukka' from Rajinikanth's Kabali, which had music composed by Santhosh Narayanan and was written and directed by Pa Ranjith.
Aku Darkkey, which translates to I Am Darkkey from Malay, follows the story of The Keys' frontman in his journey from his humble beginnings in Kuala Lipis, Malaysia, to attaining stardom in Kuala Lumpur and beyond. The film is set to feature scenes with Darkkey, some live-action cinematic recreations of his life, and some sequences in the style of anime. Aku Darkey is also set to feature archival footage from his previous performances.
The film is directed by Vicram Lachumanam, who has worked with directors like Venkat Prabhu and Pa Ranjith. Ashwath and Roshan Jamrock are producing the music, with Yugan Shanmugam as the director of photography, and Elayaraja Sekar as the editor. Veerasegar Thyagarajan and Thiruvarasu Sandreseger are producing Aku Darkkey, with Lachumanam and Amaresh serving as executive producers. The film is set to release in 2026.