Big-ticket Tamil films 'Thailaivii' & 'Laabam' gear up for release in theatres

As cinema theatres in some parts of south India have been given permission to open their doors to the public, a slew of Tamil and Telugu films are slated to release on the big screen in September, which includes the highly-anticipated Kangana Ranaut starrer, ‘Thalaivii’, based on the turbulent life and times of former CM of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa.

The late political leader J Jayalalithaa is being essayed by the fiesty Kangana Ranaut. The film directed by A L Vijay, will release on September 10 in theatres. Even as most films headed to OTT during the pandemic, Ranaut had stubbornly held off preferring to wait to launch her film on the silver screen. Arvind Swami essays the role of the late MGR, while ‘The Family Man’ Priyamani is also part of this project.

To stir up curiosity about the film, a romantic song ‘Teri Aankhon Mein’ recreating the on-screen chemistry between the legendary romantic onscreen hit pair, Jayalalithaa and MGR, was released today.

Ranaut’s film will however clash with Vijay Sethupathi’s ‘Laabam’, which is also set to hit cinemas on September 9. The film, which also features Shruthi Haasan, is a socio-political thriller set against the backdrop of corporate greed and an activist (Sethupathi)’s fight for the rights of farmers.

A Telugu sports drama, ‘Seetimaarr’ too will jostle for audience attention in theatres on September 10. This film, which has Telugu star Gopichand and Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead roles, revolves around a women’s kabbadi team. Judging by the trailer, the movie appears to encourage women’s empowerment in sports, as well as take a dig at social barriers.

Also read: Sethupathi&Paanu’s horror comedy caper to release next month on OTT

Sundar C’s ‘Aranmai 3’, the third part in the highly successful horror-comedy franchise will also hit the screens in September. The film stars Arya and Raashi Khanna in the lead roles. According to industry grapevine, the makers of the movie are eyeing September last week release in cinemas, said media reports.

Meanwhile, film production houses continue to strike deals with the OTT giants. The latest to join the bandwagon is Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar’s entertainment company.

On September 1, (Wednesday) Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar’s Mumbai-based Excel Entertainment, which had presented Kannada blockbuster, ‘KGF-1’, and produced successful movies such as ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, ‘Lakshya’ and the ‘Don’ franchise, has entered into a strategic multi-year partnership with Netflix.

Under this arrangement, Excel Entertainment will produce a variety of stories for Netflix commencing with two projects. One is tentatively titled ‘Dabba Cartel’, which is a story about five housewives who run a high-stakes secret cartel set in jazz-rich 1960s Mumbai, while ‘Queen of the Hill’ chronicles the relationship between two dynamic women that change the city forever.