After winning the hearts of Malayalam audiences, Nivin Pauly has established a strong fan base in Tamil Nadu, thanks to Alphonse Putharen's Premam, which ran for 100 days in Chennai alone.

Cashing in on the popularity, the actor is keen on exploring the Tamil film market as well. He will be testing the waters with his first straight Tamil film Richie, a remake of the critically-acclaimed Kannada thriller Ulidavaru Kandanthe.

A teaser for the film was released on Saturday and has taken the internet by storm. In less than 23 hours since its online release, the teaser has recorded more than 4 million views.

Based on Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon effect, Ulidavaru Kandanthe is about a female journalist who is on a mission to uncover the truth behind an incident, and the story is told from five different perspectives.

The film involves an anthology of five stories connected to a person’s murder, with each character narrating from his or her own perspective. Nivin Pauly plays the title character Richie, who is a local rowdy and Naatti is a boat mechanic. 

Directed by Gautham Ramachandran, the film stars Kannada actor Shraddha Srinath of U-Turn fame, who plays Nivin Pauly’s romantic interest in the film. It also stars Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli, Prakash Raj and Elango Kumaravel in pivotal roles. The shooting of the movie began in June 2016 and it will hit the screens in May.

Interestingly, the teaser ends with a shot of Nivin Pauly standing in front of a wall that has some graffiti and what does it say? 'Welcome to Tamil cinema'!

(Content provided by Digital Native)