Bharathiraja watched Radikaa Sarathkumar’s Thaai Kizhavi from home this week, his first film viewing since the long hospital stay that began in December, and came away predicting a National Award for her performance. Radikaa visited the 84-year-old director after he was able to sit through the film, posted an emotional video of the meeting to Instagram, and framed his reaction as the only verdict that mattered to her. The industry reads the moment as something more than a student-teacher reunion, because for Radikaa, Bharathiraja is the director who first put her on screen.
That first outing was Kizhakke Pogum Rail in 1978, Radikaa’s screen debut under Bharathiraja’s direction. They worked together again fifteen years later on Kizhakku Cheemayile in 1993, where Radikaa played Virumaayi. A third collaboration followed in Taj Mahal in 1999. Her caption to the reel acknowledged the arc without theatrics. “This blessing is more than any award my guru, my director #bharathiraja, I don’t and did not want to see him like this, but I am treasuring the moment,” she wrote. “#thaikelavi @dir_sivakumarmurugesan he spoke highly of you and the film, the only thing ticking in him is his love for cinema.”
Bharathiraja has been out of public life since December 27, 2025, when he was admitted to MGM Healthcare in Aminjikkarai with breathlessness and a severe lung infection. A hospital bulletin in early January called his condition stable while organ impairments were being treated. The year preceding that had already been a hard one: his son, actor-director Manoj Bharathiraja, died of a cardiac arrest last March. Radikaa had earlier posted a video of a candle she lit at Lourdes in France during his hospitalisation. He was discharged in the last few weeks and was on a wheelchair in the video of their meeting, taken at his home.
Thaai Kizhavi, which Radikaa is carrying, is the debut feature of Sivakumar Murugesan. It opened on February 27 after a one-week push from its original date, backed by Passion Studios and Sivakarthikeyan Productions on a Rs 10 crore budget. Radikaa plays Pavunuthaayi, an aged rural moneylender in a Madurai-side village whose illness brings her estranged sons back over the inheritance. Singampuli, Aruldoss, Munishkanth, Bala Saravanan, Ilavarasu, George Maryan and Raichal Rabecca round out the cast, and Nivas K. Prasanna composed the score. The Hindu called Murugesan a commanding new voice; the Indian Express and India Today gave the film four out of five. Baradwaj Rangan’s review was more mixed, though he too flagged Radikaa’s mass-hero register as the film’s anchor. It has earned close to Rs 75 crore theatrically and has been on JioHotstar since April 10.
Bharathiraja’s prediction is, strictly, a forward-looking one. Thaai Kizhavi, as a 2026 release, is eligible for the 73rd National Film Awards cycle, and by recent timelines that announcement arrives well into 2027 or 2028. The more immediate function of the video is to mark Bharathiraja’s return to watching cinema, and the place Radikaa holds in his filmography.
Next on her calendar is Colony, the Gopi Nainar film whose first look was released on April 14 by Vijay Sethupathi and Vetrimaaran. Nainar’s 2017 debut Aramm with Nayanthara put him on the map for social-issue cinema, and Colony works similar territory: a mother pushing for justice after her son’s death. The cast includes Lal, MS Bhaskar, Anjali Nair and Senthikumari. Deva is on music and R. Velraj is the cinematographer. Aditi Movies is producing under Dr. R. Nagarajan, with Anthony editing, Kanal Kannan handling stunts and Yugabharathi writing lyrics. The film has wrapped shooting, with the Tiruvannamalai region forming the bulk of its locations, and is now in post.