Directed Ajay Gnanamuthu of Imaikkaa Nodigal fame, is currently busy with his next starring Chiyan Vikram and titled Cobra. The film which went on floors earlier this year was being shot in Russia in March when coronavirus pandemic struck.
According to the latest update, the makers are planning to resume shooting for the film by first week of October and wrap it up by Deepavali this year. The makers are planning to recreate Russian environment in Chennai since travelling internationally for the shooting looks bleak for the next couple of months. The film has completed 90 days of shooting, and only 25 per cent of the shooting is pending.
The project marks the first-time collaboration of Vikram and Ajay. On choosing the title Cobra, the film’s director Ajay Gnanamuthu had told in an interview earlier that it will be released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi and the title Cobra will work for all the languages. Talking about the project, Ajay told Times of India: “The only thing I can divulge right now is that Vikram’s role will be a challenging one. Of course, he has always taken up challenging roles, but I think this one will be better than all of those.”
Recently the first single from the film "Thumbi Thullal", a romantic melody composed by AR Rahman and rendered by Shreya Ghoshal and Nakul Abhyankar and penned by Vivek was released. The soundtrack had strong classical undertones, with lyrics in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi.
The film also stars Srinidhi Shetty, cricketer Irfan Pathan and KS Ravikumar in crucial roles. It may be noted here that popular cricketer Irfan Pathan will be making his acting debut in Kollywood with this Vikram starrer. Pathan had recently wrapped up shooting for the film.
The film has music by AR Rahman which marks the third time union of Vikram and Rahman after Raavanan and I. Sivakumar Vijayan will be responsible for cinematography.
Produced by 7 Screen Studio in association with Viacom 18 Studios, the makers were originally targeting a grand worldwide release for the Eid weekend this year.
Vikram also has a film with director Karthik Subbaraj which also stars his son Dhruv Vikram. This movie will be the first film together for the father-son duo. The film is tentatively titled as Chiyaan 60. The first look poster of this film starring Dhruv Vikram and Chiyaan Vikram was released which has heightened the expectations of the fans and moviegoers.
Vikram also part of filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s upcoming magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan which is based on Kalki’s epic Tamil novel of the same name. The film which went on the floor last December and the cast so far includes Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Keerthy Suresh, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amala Paul, Parthiban and Jyothika among a few others. It has been learnt that the next schedule of the project will take place in Sri Lanka. The shooting is expected to resume from October.
(Content provided by Digital Native)