On the eve of Thalapathy Vijay's 44th birthday, his upcoming political mass entertainer with director A.R.Murugadoss has been officially titled Sarkar (Government). The duo have previously made films like Thuppakki and Kaththi together. The first look poster of Sarkar is quite glitzy, with Vijay sporting a stylish beard and smoking a cigarette (he was smoking a cigar in the first look poster of Thuppakki) against the backdrop of skyscrapers. The poster establishes that the star is playing a suave and urban character in the film.
Interestingly, the team has opted for a Hindi word as its title. Prior to the imposition of GST and local body taxes, Tamil filmmakers used to name their films in pure Tamil words, as only then would their films become eligible for entertainment tax exemption in the state. Since that rule isn't applicable anymore, filmmakers have more options while thinking of titles.
The build-up to Sarkar's title reveal and first look poster launch was grand. Producers Sun Pictures unveiled the same on Sun TV's 6pm daily news programme. Going beyond the usual online launch plans of most other films, Sun TV leveraged its huge viewership base for this launch. This development is also being celebrated by the millions of Vijay fans who have a really strong presence on social media. We can expect them to flock all the special shows of Vijay's films being planned for his birthday tomorrow, across Tamil Nadu.
Sarkar will be a Diwali release and about 80% of the film's shoot is already complete. The team intends to finish the rest by early August, in two more schedules. They will can the remaining scenes in Chennai and the US.
Sarkar will be Vijay's 12th Diwali release in his illustrious career after Chandralekha – 1995, Priyamanavaley – 2000, Shahjahan – 2001, Bagavathi – 2002, Thirumalai – 2003, Sivakasi – 2005, Azhagiya Tamil Magan – 2007, Velayutham – 2011, Thuppakki – 2012, Kaththi – 2014 and Mersal – 2017. In 62 films, he has a Diwali release ratio of almost 20%; also, it'll be a hat-trick of Diwali releases for the Vijay – ARM duo.
Sarkar also stars Keerthy Suresh, Yogi Babu, Varu Sarathkumar and Radha Ravi in its cast. A.R.Rahman is scoring the music yet again for Vijay after the monstrous success of Mersal, Girish Gangadharan is handling the camera and Sreekar Prasad is the editor.
Sarkar second look poster will be launched at midnight today as a special birthday treat for Vijay fans.