Tat Twam Assi is now Manikanda, and Vaibhav wants a Karthigai release

Manikanda is the new title of Vaibhav’s Ayyappa drama, the film that started life as Tat Twam Assi, and Ravi Mohan has unveiled its first look. Vishnu Sasi Shankar, who directed the Malayalam hit Malikappuram, makes the film, with Venkat Prabhu on board as creative producer.

The poster puts Vaibhav bare-chested in a blue veshti and angavastram, a vel in one hand and rudraksha beads at his throat, with a giant Ayyappa idol rising behind him through gold light and flames against a cosmic sky. The Tamil line across it reads “the journey of the Lord and his people,” and the old title has not been thrown away: Tat Twam Asi sits beneath Manikanda as a tagline, with “you are the divine” spelled out under it.

The story follows devotees who wear the mala, keep the vow and walk the hard forest path to Sabarimala, with action and family drama built around the pilgrimage. The makers are openly pitching it alongside the run of devotional hits that includes Kantara and Karuppu, which tells you the size of the swing they are taking with a mid-budget Vaibhav film.

Meenakshi Govindarajan plays the female lead, with Aravind Akash, Aadukalam Naren, Harish Peradi and Arjai in key roles. Tantra Films’ JK Saravana and M Rajaram produce. Premgi Amaren composes, Yuvan Selva shoots, Praveen KL edits and Surya Rajeevan handles production design, while Stunt Silva and Sakthi Saravanan choreograph the action. The writing credits go to Adithya Tangirala, Nanthakumar Thamichelvan, JK Saravana and Prithvi Adithya.

The schedule has been tight. Cameras rolled on May 26, filming has wrapped, and post-production is now racing towards a release in Karthigai, the Tamil month from mid-November to mid-December when Ayyappa devotees take the mala and the Sabarimala season begins. That puts the film in cinemas roughly six months after its first shot, with the teaser and the music launch still to be announced in the coming weeks.