From audio launch snub to becoming face of trailer: Trisha's Karuppu pivot

When the audio launch of Surya starrer Karuppu ('Black') was held in Chennai on April 26 with considerable fanfare, one star was missing from the guest list — Trisha Krishnan, the film's leading lady.

In an industry where audio launches are as much about visibility as they are about music, the absence of an actor from her own film's marquee event raises a few questions. When a user asked about it, Trisha cryptically replied on Instagram: "Guess my invite got lost in the mail."

It is still unknown if she actually missed the mail or the production unit missed sending it to her. But later, at the audio launch, director RJ Balaji said, "Trisha could not join the team today, but I thank her a lot. It's not easy being Trisha, it's not easy to be at the top for 23 years. It'll be one of her best roles in recent times."

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Later, the production house, Dream Warrior, released a teaser introducing Trisha as lawyer Preethi. Sharing the teaser, a user remarked that they had forgotten that she was part of the film until the teaser was released. Trisha yet again took a dig by replying, "Thank you. Even I forgot. Good to know they set a reminder now at least."

Now, the trailer of Karuppu tells a different story altogether. The promo leads with Trisha and RJ Balaji and the actress commands more screen presence than heroines typically do in trailers of hero-driven films. So, something has shifted.

The teaser told a different story

Before that, let's also take a look at the state of affairs with the Karuppu teaser. When it dropped on July 23, 2025, Suriya's birthday, it was a solo affair. Not a single other cast member appeared. The teaser was built entirely around Suriya: his character's name. It was the kind of teaser that plants a flag and says: This is a star vehicle, and the star is Suriya.

That choice was, at the time, unremarkable. It is entirely standard in big-budget Tamil cinema to use the male star as the sole focus of early promotional material. Heroines, in this universe, are announced rather than introduced. They appear later, in trailers, usually briefly, sometimes not at all.

What the numbers say

This is where the Karuppu trailer becomes genuinely interesting — and genuinely revealing.

Look at how heroines have fared in Suriya's own recent trailers (the duration is approximate). Disha Patani featured in 2024 film Kanguva, but in a role so peripheral that calling her the heroine would be a stretch, and she received zero seconds in the trailer to confirm or deny it either way.

Pooja Hegde, cast as the heroine in Retro, appeared for 11 seconds. Lijomol Jose in 2021 film Jai Bhim, which was celebrated precisely for its lead actress's performance, received only 10 seconds in its trailer.

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The picture is no different across Tamil cinema's other major stars. In Jana Nayagan ('Hero of the People', yet to be released), the combined screen time of both Mamaitha Biju and Pooja Hegde in the trailer amounted to six seconds. Kara offered Mamaitha Biju the same six seconds.

Minimal presence

Now look at how Trisha herself has been treated in trailers of films she has actually starred in. She received five seconds in Thug Life (2025), four in Good Bad Ugly (2025), and three in Leo (2023). The only outlier in this trend is Vidaamuyarchi ('Perseverance', 2025), which has Trisha for about 15 seconds. It is a film where she is, by most accounts, central to the story.

However, the norm in our cinema is that the heroine, however significant her role within the film, is minimised in promotional material because the implicit assumption is that she does not sell tickets. The male star does.

Against all of this, Trisha's 13 seconds in the Karuppu trailer, leading the trailer alongside RJ Balaji's character, before Suriya even dominates the frame, is not just notable. It is an anomaly.

The political equation

The explanation appears to lie not in any sudden philosophical shift within Tamil cinema's marketing machinery, but in a very specific and very recent political development.

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Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the party floated by actor-turned-politician Vijay, won the Tamil Nadu assembly election and formed the government. Vijay was sworn in as Chief Minister.

The association of Trisha and Vijay is an ongoing controversy as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is in a legal matrimonial dispute with his wife of three decades, Sangeetha Sornalingam.

At that swearing-in ceremony, a moment of enormous cultural and political significance in Tamil Nadu, Trisha Krishnan was present, while Sangeetha wasn't. That image, of Trisha at the ceremony, circulated widely and planted her firmly at the intersection of cinema and politics in the public imagination.

The timing of the Karuppu trailer release, which came hours after Vijay's government was formed, was noted and widely commented upon. One could argue that it is a coincidence. The data around Trisha's screen time in the trailer makes that argument harder to sustain.

A marketing decision or a creative one

The question is not whether Trisha is a significant part of the Karuppu narrative — she very well may be — and the film's inside story about the depth of her role remains to be seen when it releases.

The question is whether the decision to foreground her in the trailer, to the degree that she now leads it, is an organic reflection of that role or a conscious marketing decision responding to external factors.