It is official now. One of the Tamil cinema’s biggest, the reigning star, Thalapathy Vijay, is doing his next under Vamshi Paidipally’s direction. It will mark Sri Venkateshwara Creations (SVC) banner debut in Tamil.
The project, currently referred to as Thalapahy66, is an interesting move for Vijay. It is, in essence, a Telugu production but made with the Tamil Nadu audience in mind. Usually, it will be a Telugu production made with Telugu sensibilities for a bilingual market. Here it is different.
It is what makes Thalapathy66 an interesting move to watch out for. Vijay is going through a golden phase at the moment. He is the top star in Tamil Nadu at the moment. He is the number one Tamil hero in Kerala.
Telugu states are where Vijay has lacked since the start. He has improved in recent years, but to be the number one star in South India (like Rajinikanth), he has to have a strong presence and market in the Telugu film industry. Thalapathy66 is a move in that direction.
It is something that has not been attempted in decades. Only Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in the past did movies with Telugu banners and directors. However, they did it while growing as stars. Will Vijay find similar acceptance, even if a bit late, needs to be seen?
Many stars succeeded initially but failed in the long run, maintaining the balance between Telugu and Tamil cinema audiences. It would be interesting to see how Vijay progresses with Thalapathy66
