South Indian filmdom does not easily bestow fancy titles on female actors, while the male ones get themselves rather bizarre and vaunting ones. In such a scenario, to get the sobriquet 'Lady Superstar' can possibly be the highest achievement for any actress. And Nayanthara has managed that with quiet dignity.
The actress, who started her career with Malayalam, is now primarily Tamil movies focused, even though she is not averse to doing the occasional Malayalam or Telugu ones, like Nizhal with Kunchacko Boban last year. Otherwise, most of her projects involve her purported boyfriend Vignesh Shivan, director, writer and producer in Kollywood (they are rumoured to marry next month).
As it happens, Nayanthara is fresh off the Vignesh Shivan-helmed Kathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal. It starred her along with Samantha and Vijay Sethupathi.
Now, Nayanthara’s next Tamil film O2 will skip theatres and directly release on Disney+ Hotstar.
A survival thriller
O2's teaser was unveiled today, and going by it, the film looks to be a survival thriller set inside a bus. Directed by GS Viknesh, the teaser shows Nayanthara fighting for survival for her son, who’s sick and travelling with oxygen support. Child actor Rithvik plays her son. Nayanthara and a few others are trapped in a bus in the ground. They can only survive for 12 hours. There seems to be run-ins between the passengers leading to arguments and escalating into fisticuffs. Nayanthara urges everyone to stay calm and not fight with each other. The film has been completely shot in Film City in Chennai. Director Bharath Neelakandan of K13 fame plays the antagonist.
O2 has music by Vishal Chandrasekar while Thamizh A Azhagan is the cinematographer and Selva RK is the editor. O2 will mark the directorial debut of GK Viknesh, who is a former associate of filmmaker Venkat Prabhu. O2 was originally named as - no joke - Oxygen.
The streamer Disney+ Hotstar has not revealed the date of its premier. But it is likely to happen in the first half of June.
