Inji Vellam release date: Mani Ratnam's romance opens January 29

Inji Vellam, Mani Ratnam’s romantic drama starring Vijay Sethupathi and Sai Pallavi, will release worldwide on January 29, 2027. Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions announced the Inji Vellam release date on Wednesday with a motion poster that moves the story somewhere the first look did not.

The September first look had the two of them forehead to forehead in the rain, Howrah Bridge behind them. The new poster puts them in a crowded Kolkata street under a flock of pigeons, each carrying a little girl, the twins apparently theirs. Read together, the two images suggest a film that follows a couple from falling in love to raising a family, the long-view romance Mani Ratnam has returned to across decades, from Mouna Ragam to Alaipayuthey to O Kadhal Kanmani. The title fits that reading too: inji is ginger, vellam is jaggery, sharp and sweet in the same mouthful.

It is Mani Ratnam’s first film since Thug Life, which landed badly in 2025, and his first romance since Kaatru Veliyidai in 2017. He writes and directs, and produces under Madras Talkies with Siva Ananth, while Subaskaran’s Lyca Productions, which also backed Thug Life, presents. AR Rahman composes, his 19th film with Mani Ratnam. The crew is the director’s trusted circle: Avik Mukhopadhyay on camera, Sreekar Prasad editing, Sharmishta Roy on production design, Brinda Gopal on choreography and Dhilip Subbarayan on action. Chaithra J Achar joins the cast in a key role. Netflix holds the streaming rights and Sony Music the audio.

This is Sai Pallavi’s first film with Mani Ratnam and her first pairing with Vijay Sethupathi, who last worked with the director on Chekka Chivantha Vaanam in 2018. It also lands in a crowded stretch for him. After Baththa in October, Mysskin’s Train opens on December 4, and Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Pocket Novel is set for Pongal on January 14. Inji Vellam follows fifteen days later, which puts three Vijay Sethupathi films in theatres inside eight weeks.