Maari 2 will be one of many releases of actor Dhanush this year. As he awaits the release of Vada Chennai first part in June, director Balaji Mohan on Thursday confirmed that Maari 2 will hit the screens in the second half of this year.

Balaji took to twitter to share the news: 

Happy that #Maari2 shoot is progressing at brisk pace & is 40% done. Will resume after the strike & targeting release in the second half of 2018 @dhanushkraja @Sai_Pallavi92 @Actor_Krishna @ttovino @varusarath @thisisysr pic.twitter.com/YXCSoaOw0C

— Balaji Mohan (@directormbalaji) March 15, 2018

While the prequel had Kajal Agarwal as Dhanush’s lead pair, in the sequel it will be Sai Pallavi and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar sharing the screen space with the actor. Sai Pallavi will be teaming up with Dhanush for the first time.

To be seen in a full-length negative role in Vishal’s Sandakozhi 2, Varalaxmi is rumoured to be playing a negative character in Maari 2 as well and actor Krishna, last seen playing a street fighter in Pandigai has landed a plum role in Maari 2.

The project was supposed to materialize much earlier but due to Dhanush’s multiple commitments, including his directorial project Power Paandi, the film had to be pushed.

Maari, one of the biggest hits in Dhanush’s career, was released in the year 2015. Ever since then, there have a lot of expectations on its sequel, in which Dhanush played a dhoti-clad, moustache-twirling local rowdy and he will return in the same getup for the sequel, which will be bankrolled by Wunderbar Films.

Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas, who has worked in films such as Oru Mexican Aparatha and Godha and recently in Dhanush’s maiden Malayalam production Tharanga, has been roped in to play the baddie in the film, which will be made as a bilingual in Tamil and Telugu.

The film marks the reunion of Dhanush and composer Yuvan Shankar Raja after a long hiatus of nearly a decade. Maari had music by Anirudh Ravichander, who had a fall out with Dhanush and parted way.

(Content provided by Digital Native)