Vikram and his son Dhruv's Tamil film Mahaan opts for direct OTT release

Tamil actor Vikram's new movie Mahaan
(Image credit: 7 Star Films)

National award winning actor Vikram hasn't had any big hit in recent times in Tamil. His son Dhruv Vikram too had a less than splashy start to his career with Varma, the forgettable Tamil remake of Telugu hit Arjun Reddy.

The dad and son will be seen together in the Tamil film Mahaan, which has chosen the OTT path for its release.

The film, directed by the talented Karthik Subbaraj, will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video from February 10. This was announced by the streamer through a tweet yesterday. Mahaan's highlight, it is said, is the confrontation between the dad and son on screen.  Of course, Vikram and Dhruv are not the first dad and son combo to appear together in films.

It's another gangster film from Karthik Subbaraj

The film has been titled Mahaan in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, while it will be called MahaPurusha in Kannada. It is Vikram’s 60th film, and its cast also includes Simran, Vani Bhojan and Bobby Simha, among others. Bobby Simha is a regulatr fixture in almost all of Subbaraj films, and Simran had previously appeared in the filmmaker’s 2019 film Petta.

 Mahaan was announced in June 2020 and went on floors in March 2021. Music composer Anirudh Ravichander was initially brought on board for Mahaan, but he was later replaced by another Subbaraj regular, Santhosh Narayanan.

A big actor like Vikram opting for a straight OTT release may be a surprise, but Karthik Subbaraj seems to have a yen for the streamers. His previous film Jagame Thandhiram, starring Dhanush, made it to Netflix directly.  The director was also part of the anthologies Navarasa and Putham Pudhu Kaalai that premiered directly on streaming platforms.

Mahaan is billed as a gangster thriller based in north Madras. The film has been shot in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Darjeeling. Then again, the gangster genre is right up Subbaraj's alley, whose previous movies have provided a unique whacky take on organised criminal gangs. One of his well-known films Jigarthanda is a good case in point.

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Balakumar K
Senior Editor

Over three decades as a journalist covering current affairs, politics, sports and now technology. Former Editor of News Today, writer of humour columns across publications and a hardcore cricket and cinema enthusiast. He writes about technology trends and suggest movies and shows to watch on OTT platforms.