Vijay’s 69th Film Sets Director, Release Date

The 69th, and possibly last, film of popular Tamil-language cinema actor Vijay before he enters politics full time, has set a producer, director and release date.

The as-yet-untitled film will be directed by H. Vinoth, whose last three films “Nerkonda Paarvai” (2019), “Valimai” (2022), and “Thunivu” (2023) all starred Ajith Kumar. It will be produced by Venkat K. Narayana for KVN Productions, with Jagadish Palanisamy and Lohith N.K. as co-producers. KVN is currently producing Geethu Mohandas’ “Toxic – A Fairytale for Grown Ups” alongside “K.G.F.” star Yash’s Monster Mind Creations.

Anirudh Ravichander (“Leo,” “Jawan”) will compose the music. While no plot details have been provided, a line on the project’s announcement poster says: “The torch bearer of democracy. Arriving soon…” The film is due to release in October 2025 in the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages.

Vijay’s “The Greatest of All Time” is currently on release and has grossed more than $46.8 million. Over the latest weekend, it was the ninth highest grossing film in the world, according to ComScore.

The 50-year-old actor, born Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar and known simply as Vijay, founded the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (Tamil Nadu Victory Federation) political party earlier this year and serves as its president. He is the latest in a long list of film industry people from the southern Indian state who joined politics. These include actors M.G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa and screenwriter M. Karunanidhi, all of whom went on to become chief ministers of Tamil Nadu.

Ramachandran and his contemporary N.T. Rama Rao from the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh acted in a few films after entering politics.

Prominent among current Tamil cinema actors who are active in politics are Kamal Haasan, who founded the Makkal Needhi Maiam party in 2018, while R. Sarath Kumar’s All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi, founded in 2007, was merged into India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party earlier this year. Superstar Rajinikanth, after dabbling in politics over the years, formally announced his entry into the arena in 2017 but then dissolved his Rajini Makkal Mandram party in 2021 saying he had no further plans to continue in the field.