Lenin Pandiyan, Sathya Jyothi Films’ rural drama on sand mining, got its trailer out on Tuesday, released by Venkat Prabhu, with a set of family lineages lining up behind the film. Gangai Amaran, brother of Ilaiyaraaja, is in his first lead role. Sivaji Ganesan’s grandson Dhaarshan Ganesan is making his acting debut as a young police officer. And the score, which brings Ilaiyaraaja back to work with producer TG Thyagarajan after a thirty-two-year gap, is the quieter news sitting under the trailer drop.
The film is directed by first-timer DD Balachandran, and the trailer opens on a seventy-five-year-old man under police protection. The question of what the protection is for, and what the old man did to need it, is the hook the cut leans on. The story is set in the sand-quarry villages that have been the quiet backdrop of Tamil Nadu’s land and water rights battles for years, and Lenin Pandiyan is pitching itself as a film that takes those battles seriously.
Dhaarshan’s screen introduction carries the visible weight of his grandfather’s legacy. He plays the young officer pulled into the story, and the trailer spends its most carefully composed frames on him. Gangai Amaran, who has spent decades behind the camera and at the scoring console, anchors the film from the other end of the age scale, as the modest farmer whose family the story revolves around.
Roja, returning to the screen after several years, is in the cast. Shrrita Rao plays the female lead, Priya. The supporting line-up includes MS Bhaskar, George Mariyam, Aadukalam Naren, Yugendran, Jayaprakash, Bose Venkat, Ilavarasu and Bigg Boss Archana, among others.
Ilaiyaraaja’s return to Sathya Jyothi, after last working with TG Thyagarajan thirty-two years ago, is being treated by the makers as a reunion of its own. The fact that Gangai Amaran, Ilaiyaraaja’s brother, is the film’s lead adds a second layer to that continuity.
Edwin Sakay is behind the camera. Nagooran Ramachandran edited the film. Athuuri Jeykumaar handled the art direction and Thalapathy Dinesh the stunts. The film is produced by Senthil Thyagarajan and Arjun Thyagarajan, presented by TG Thyagarajan, with G Saravanan and Sai Sidharth co-producing. Post-production is complete, and a theatrical release is being planned.