Director Balaji Tharaneetharan’s Seethakaathi hit the screens just a few days ago and the film has been receiving a good response at the box office since its release. Now, based on feedback from the audience, the makers have trimmed the film by almost 15 minutes, reducing its run time. Originally, the film had a total run time of 2 hours and 53 minutes.

The trimmed version is being played in all screens since Monday and the news was shared by the film’s producer, Passion Studios, on the official Twitter page.

Watch the new #Seethakaathi trimmed version in theatres near you from today.#SeethakaathiTrimmed pic.twitter.com/NBL7bd5va7

— Passion Studios (@PassionStudios_) December 24, 2018

A source close to the film’s director tells us that the length of the opening play has been reduced by 8 to 9 minutes and another 3 to 4 minutes have been cut in the second half.

Starring Vijay Sethupathi in the lead, Seethakaathi is the story of a legendary thespian called Aadhimoolam Ayya. The film also stars Archana, Mouli, Bagavathi Perumal, Saravanan and others. 

The film’s interesting premise – what if anyone, absolutely anyone, could be a great actor because of a supernatural phenomenon? – has been well received the audiences.

Just a few days before its release, the film had run into trouble when a political party, the Indian National League, raised objections over the use of the title Seethakaathi for the film.

Hollywood technician Kevin Haney was roped in to work on Ayya’s look in this film. The director revealed in an interview to TNM that the look for Seethakaathi was inspired by author Ki Rajanarayanan and philosopher J Krishnamurti.

Balaji also remarked that Seethakaathi has a number of professional stage actors whose performances have been very valuable to the film. “All the actors had a very child-like excitement and they did a brilliant job. More than anything else, they were thankful for the opportunity. I never understood why they thanked me. I should be the one doing it,” he said.