'Mersal,' 'Bigil': Before SRK's 'Jawan,' look at Atlee's previous directorials
September 7 is a consequential day for Tamil film director Atlee, who is stepping into Hindi cinema with Shah Rukh Khan-Nayanthara-Vijay Sethupathi starrer Jawan. It will be released in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu and is expected to take an unprecedented start at the box office. If you haven't yet checked out his work in mass cinema, here's a guide to all his four directorials.
'Raja Rani'
Raja Rani, a romantic comedy-drama, was Atlee's first directorial and starred Arya, Jai Sampath, and Nayanthara. It was reportedly inspired by Mouna Ragam and Milana. A September 2013 release, it courted positive reviews and was loved by the audience, subsequently inspiring a Bengali remake Shudhu Tomari Jonyo and an Odia remake Tu Je Sei. It is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
'Theri'
With Theri began Atlee-Thalapathy Vijay's fan-favorite professional collaboration, which has churned out three films so far. Theri is the story of Vijay, an upright and committed-to-the-force police officer, whose life takes a 180-degree turn when his wife (played by Samantha Ruth Prabhu) and mother (played by Raadhika Sarathkumar) are murdered at the hands of a notorious gangster. Watch it on Amazon Prime Video.
'Mersal'
In Mersal, Vijay effortlessly pulled off not one or two, but a triple role and his performance and the storyline helped the movie attain mammoth success upon its release. Atlee co-wrote it with RRR and Baahubali writer V Vijayendra Prasad. Several leading actors such as Nithya Menen, Kajal Aggarwal, Prabhu, SJ Suryah, and Vadivelu co-starred in the actioner. Watch it on Netflix.
'Bigil'
Atlee loves crafting films that delve deep into the protagonist's past and slowly unravel why he is the way he is, and this is a predominant theme of the sports action drama Bigil, too. Vijay starred in dual roles as Rayappan, a gangster and his footballer son Michael, who coaches a down-and-out women's soccer team to victory. Nayanthara and Jackie Shroff co-starred.
