Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Pictures on Monday has announced yet another project with Rajinikanth after the thunderous box office success of the superstar’s recent film Jailer. Rajinikanth’s upcoming film, known as Thalaivar 171, will be directed and written by Lokesh Kanagaraj. Helmed by Kanagaraj, the film will be a musical by Anirudh Ravichander. Ravichander came in the news due to the massive success of the song Kaavaalaa from Jailer and Chaleya from Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan.
Sun Pictures shared the first poster of Thalaivar 171 on X formerly known as Twitter and wrote: “We are happy to announce Superstar @rajinikanth’s #Thalaivar171. Written & Directed by @Dir_Lokesh. An @anirudhofficial musical. Action by @anbariv”. Reposting Sun Pictures’ post, Kanagaraj wrote that he is excited to team up with Rajinikanth for Thalaivar 171.
Media reports suggest that the shooting of the film is expected to commence in February 2024. While the plot of the film is under wraps at present, there are questions on whether this film is a part of the writer-director’s LCU (Lokesh Kanagaraj Universe) or will it be a standalone film.
Jailer box office, OTT release
The announcement comes in the wake of the stupendous box office success of Rajinikanth’s latest outing Jailer. Jailer has collected a total of Rs 342.47 crore in its lifetime at the domestic box office. Of this, the film’s Tamil version collected Rs 263.35 crore whereas its Telugu version collected Rs 67.63 crore. Jailer’s Kannada and Hindi versions raked in Rs 4.38 crore and Rs 7.11 crore respectively.
In terms of worldwide box office, Rajinikanth’s latest film crossed Rs 600 crore within its lifetime run. Rajinikanth’s Jailer is streaming on Amazon Prime Video from September 7. The film is available on Amazon Prime Video in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada.
Lokesh Kanagaraj movies, upcoming projects
Kanagaraj is best known for films such as Kamal Haasan’s Vikram, Karthi-led Kaithi, Thalapathy Vijay’s Master and the 2017 film Maanagaram. Besides these ventures, the writer-director has also helmed Thalapathy Vijay’s upcoming film Leo.