Santhanam's 20th Lead Film Is Called Athisaya Piravi

Santhanam's next film finally has a name. The makers of the time-loop thriller that had been tentatively titled Santa 20 announced on Oct. 20 that it is titled Athisaya Piravi, and released a first-look poster the same day, according to Cinema Express, The Times of India and IANS. The film is Santhanam's 20th as a lead actor, and the announcement came a day after the team said shooting was complete. The title is the same one Rajinikanth used for a 1990 fantasy comedy, and The Times of India notes that the link is why the announcement has drawn attention.

The title and the first look

The Times of India describes the poster as showing Santhanam driving an ambulance through what looks like a mysterious vortex. Cinema Express calls it an ambulance moving through "a nebulous vortex" and says the film is being billed as science fiction with elements of comedy and mystery. K7 Studios, one of the two production houses, announced the title on social media with the line "Get ready for a ride beyond the ordinary, where every second could change everything!", as quoted by IANS.

The wrap came first. On Oct. 19, Santhanam posted on X: "That's a wrap on #Santa20! The clock has stopped ticking on the sets of my next, but a whole new timeline is about to unfold!" Cinema Express carried the post and reported that the first look had been scheduled for 5.30 pm the next day. No release date has been announced, The Times of India noted.

A time loop and a first-time director

The project was first made public in March. Filmfare reported on March 7 that the film had started with a traditional pooja ceremony and was being described as a detective thriller built around a time loop, mixing science fiction, humour and mystery. The video K7 Studios shared from the launch called it "A Time loop based Detective thriller filled with Humour & Mystery."

Athisaya Piravi is directed by Sudhaman Krishna, who is making his debut. IANS reports that he also wrote the story. KJ Ganesh is producing under the Venus Infotainment banner with Vijay K Celliah of K7 Studios, and IANS names Karthick Anandakrishnan as executive producer.

It is not Santhanam's first brush with the genre. Filmfare pointed out that in 2021 he starred in Dikkiloona, directed by Karthik Yogi, which used time travel as its central device. The new film appears to approach similar territory through a detective story told across repeating timelines, the magazine wrote.

The cast, and a question over the music

Gopika Ramesh plays the female lead. Filmfare notes that she is known for the web series Suzhal and the film Sweetheart!. The rest of the cast, as listed by Cinema Express, includes Vetri, Smruthi Venkat, Jenson Dhivakar, Redin Kingsley, George Maryan, Pradeep Antony, Fouzee and TSR. Redin Kingsley is described by Filmfare as a frequent Santhanam collaborator.

Behind the camera, the crew includes cinematographer Richard M Nathan, editor Praveen KL, art director Jacki and action choreographer Dhilip Subbarayan. IANS adds that Priya Ravi has designed the costumes.

The composer credit is less settled in the reports. Cinema Express and The Times of India both name G. V. Prakash Kumar as composer, and the K7 Studios title post quoted by IANS ends with "A @gvprakash Musical." When the film was launched in March, though, Filmfare reported that Nivas K Prasanna was composing the music, and the IANS report on the title also names him. The makers have not publicly explained the change in the reports we reviewed.

A title from Rajinikanth's catalogue

The Times of India framed the news around the borrowed name. The original Athisaya Piravi, released on June 15, 1990, was directed by S. P. Muthuraman and starred Rajinikanth with Kanaka and Sheeba. It was a Tamil remake of the 1988 Telugu film Yamudiki Mogudu and followed a murdered man sent back to life in the body of a lookalike villager. According to Muthuraman, as recorded in the film's Wikipedia entry, it underperformed at the box office because the idea of life after death and reincarnation did not go down well with Tamil audiences.

The Times of India says Santhanam's project appears to be a separate story with its own science fiction and comedy elements, and that the choice of title has become a talking point even before the plot is known.

From Lollu Sabha to leading man

Santhanam made his name on television in Star Vijay's Lollu Sabha, which spoofed Tamil films, before Silambarasan gave him a supporting role in Manmadhan in 2004. Through the late 2000s and early 2010s he became one of Tamil cinema's busiest comedians. He produced Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya in 2013 and took the lead in Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham in 2014.

In a 2016 interview with The Times of India, he explained the switch. "Even today, I can choose to be a comedian and earn a lot of money. I still get a lot of offers to play a comedian. But I'm no longer interested in being one," he said. He described the path in the same interview: "I was the first to make the jump from TV to cinema," he said, before listing his turn as a producer while still a comedian and then his move to playing the hero.

How the lead roles have fared

The lead roles have had mixed results with critics. Filmfare lists A1, Parris Jeyaraj and Agent Kannayiram among the films he headlined. His most recent release in the Dhilluku Dhuddu series, Devil's Double Next Level in 2025, was called a "barely funny, least scary addition to an uneven franchise" by The Hindu's Bhuvanesh Chandar, though the review credited its "hilariously meta first half". Another lead film, Server Sundaram, in which he plays a chef, was first set for release on Jan. 31, 2020, and was then held up by financial disputes between its producers and members of its distribution team, Cinema Express reported in January this year.

What comes next

With shooting complete and the title out, the next steps are a release date, a trailer and a clearer picture of the plot. For now, the makers have offered a poster, a cast list and a one-line pitch about every second changing everything. When the film was launched, Filmfare called it another step for Santhanam as a solo lead who is willing to experiment with different storytelling formats.

Sources

Cover photo: Dani Charles for Silverscreen Media Inc., Wikimedia Commons, [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santhanam_at_the_%E2%80%98A1%E2%80%99_Press_Meet.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santhanam_at_the_%E2%80%98A1%E2%80%99_Press_Meet.jpg) (CC BY-SA 3.0).