'Thalaivar 173': Rajinikanth's Film Titled 'Dharman'; Ashwath Marimuthu to Direct

After months of speculation and several changes in the core crew, Superstar Rajinikanth’s next film, which will be produced by Kamal Haasan, has been titled Dharman. It will be directed by Ashwath Marimuthu, director of two back-to-back hits, Dragon (starring Pradeep Ranganathan) and Oh My Kadavule (with Ashok Selvan). Sundar C and Cibi Chakravarthy were earlier attached to the film to direct.

The poster features Rajini in what looks like the setting of a hospital’s operating theatre as he stands atop a person he seems to have just murdered. He’s sporting rubber gloves, and his weapon of choice appears to be a scalpel, suggesting that he could be playing a doctor in the film. His blue coordinated outfit also looks like a doctor’s scrubs, adding to this idea. The time on his watch says 12:12, which is the superstar’s birthday. He’s also grinning slyly at someone in the poster. The skyline in the backdrop also appears to be that of a foreign city.

The film is co-produced by R Mahendran of Turmeric Media. Apart from Ashwath, the core team includes Anirudh’s music and Anbariv as action choreographers. Niketh Bommi is the DOP and Pradeep E Ragav is the editor. MR Karthik Rajkumar is the film’s production designer.

Meanwhile, superstars Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth will soon reunite on screen as co-stars. KHxRK (tentative title) has been in the works for several months now, since both the actors announced their intention to team up again. The film is bankrolled by Red Giant Movies. The film will be directed by Nelson, who directed Rajini in Jailer and the upcoming Jailer 2.

Speaking about reuniting with Rajikinath, Kamal Haasan had said earlier, “We’ve been itching to work together for a long time. Like how a biscuit was being split into two, we had then demanded that we each be given a whole biscuit each. Now we’ve found the joy again to realise that we are both happy with just that half biscuit again. So we’ll come together.”