The first look of Thalapathy 65, which was the name used by fans and the film fraternity for actor Vijay’s 65th movie, has finally been unveiled! Written and directed by filmmaker Nelson Dilipkumar, the film is titled Beast.
Over the last few years, it has become almost a tradition to reveal information about Vijay’s upcoming projects on the eve of his birthday. Keeping up with the routine, production house Sun Pictures shared the first look poster of Beast today, a day before the actor’s 47th birthday on June 22.
The poster shows Vijay wielding a shotgun with a mounted telescopic lens amid lots of smoke and what appears to be a tear gas canister in the background. However, it’s not clear whether Vijay will be playing the role of a police officer or a hitman in Beast.
Take a look at the poster here:
Soon after the poster was released, fans went berserk on social media, with hashtags like #HBDThalapathyVijay and #ThalapathyFirstLook trending on Twitter.
Interestingly, one topic that was at the top of the trends was ‘shotgun’ as netizens started questioning and trolling why a shotgun would need a telescopic sight. For the uninitiated, shotguns usually fire multiple shots at once with not much focus on hitting the target with precision. Sources believe that having a scope on a shotgun might be counter-intuitive or even dangerous. Scopes were initially reserved for only rifles and long-distance shooting, but now the idea appears to be changing slowly.
Coming back to the film, Beast will have actress Pooja Hegde playing the lead role alongside Vijay. The film will see Pooja making a comeback in Tamil cinema after a gap of nine years. The film will be produced under the banner of Sun Pictures.
The production of Thalapathy 65 began in March 2021, before the country was hit by a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in another lockdown. Media reports also suggest that Vijay and Nelson had travelled to Georgia in April to begin the shoot, which went on for at least 20 days before they returned to India. Once back, the crew couldn’t resume work due to the lockdown imposed in Tamil Nadu.
The current lockdown also raises questions on whether the film will be ready for its release before Pongal in January (2022), which is a preferred time for popular movie releases in the state of Tamil Nadu.