Rajinikanth unveils the Charukesi trailer and audio, June 12 worldwide release locked

Rajinikanth unveiled the trailer and audio of Y Gee Mahendra’s Charukesi on Thursday, fronting the launch for a film he had personally urged into existence years ago after watching YGM hold the original stage version together by himself. Directed by Suresh Krissna, produced by Arun Visualz and going to theatres worldwide through E5 Entertainments’ J Jayakrishnan on 12 June, Charukesi is the screen version of YGM’s celebrated stage musical drama.

The film is built around music, relationships and the weight of artistic legacy, and the makers are pitching it in the lineage of Shankarabharanam and Sindhu Bhairavi, the Carnatic-rooted dramas where the music is the spine of the story rather than the wallpaper behind it. Music is by Thenisai Thendral Deva, whose album was put out at the same event.

The ensemble has Y Gee Mahendra in the lead, with Sathyaraj, Samuthirakani, Thalaivasal Vijay, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Ramya Pandian, Raj Ayyappa and Madhuvanthi Arun in pivotal roles. Rajinikanth, after seeing the trailer through, thanked the team for putting a culturally rooted, music-led subject on the big screen at a time when the industry rarely commits to one. As Suresh Krissna had laid out at the earlier trailer reveal, Rajinikanth had separately told both him and YGM that the play deserved a screen life. Neither knew the other had been told the same. On Thursday, Suresh Krissna said the film was very close to his heart and that he was grateful for the cast he had been able to put on call.

The event was attended by Y Gee Mahendra, Suresh Krissna, Deva, Ramya Pandian, producer Arun, director Thirumalai, E5 Entertainments’ J Jayakrishnan, MCP Jayachandran and Lahari Music alongside the film’s technical crew. Charukesi goes worldwide on 12 June.