Vijay Kumar's Arivu picked for IFFI Goa before its release

Arivu, the Sathyasiva film starring Vijay Kumar and Kayal Anandhi, has been selected for the 57th International Film Festival of India in Goa. It will screen in the New Horizons section of the Indian Panorama, which means the festival audience sees it before anyone in a Tamil Nadu theatre does. IFFI runs from November 20 to 28; Arivu opens worldwide on December 11.

That is a tight gap, and the makers seem happy to use it. Movietron Productions, the film’s banner, says it now plans to send Arivu to more international festivals.

Vijay Kumar plays a schoolteacher who takes education into the hill villages, and the film is built around education and women’s rights. Suriya and Jyotika unveiled the first look; a Women’s Day poster later sat him in front of a group of village women. Shooting ran from March to May across Munnar and Theni, and the crew left something behind in Munnar: while filming at a government school near Ottaparai, producer Saivinoth Jayakumar had the building repaired and repainted and drinking water installed.

It is a change of register for Vijay Kumar, whose films, from Uriyadi through Election, have mostly been about politics and the violence around it. Sathyasiva, best known for Kazhugu, wrote the screenplay and shares dialogue credit with Nikesh RS. The cast also includes IM Vijayan, Deepa Shankar, Singampuli, Subiksha Kumar, Joshika Maya and Ismath Banu. D Imman composes the music, with Dil Raju on cinematography and Vetri Krishnan editing.

Saivinoth Jayakumar produces under Movietron, with Saiprabhu Jayakumar as co-producer. Arivu is the banner’s first film.