Seyon adds Raj B Shetty, face buried in a wall of fire

The first thing Seyon shows of Raj B Shetty is a shape in the fire. In the character poster Raaj Kamal Films International put out on Sunday, the actor stands in the middle of a blaze with his back half to the camera, seemingly lighting a cigarette, his face held in shadow. It is a deliberately withholding introduction for one of the most distinctive performers to come out of Kannada cinema in years, and exactly the kind of entry a film builds a slow reveal around.

The poster doubled as a birthday note. Kamal Haasan’s banner, which is producing the Sivakarthikeyan film, timed the casting reveal to Raj B Shetty’s birthday, captioning it, “The cast gets stronger. The celebration gets bigger. Happy birthday, Raj B Shetty, and welcome aboard.” His role has not been described beyond that silhouette.

For audiences who know him, the tease lands harder. Raj B Shetty made his name writing, directing and starring in Ondu Motteya Kathe and the cult Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana, then carried the title role in Toby, work that trades in menace and control rather than easy heroism. He is already crossing into Tamil through Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Pocket Novel, opposite Vijay Sethupathi and Malavika Mohanan, and his latest Kannada outing, Rakkasapuradhol, has him as a police officer in a supernatural murder mystery. Seyon slots him into a very different register: a rural action drama.

The film is Sivakarthikeyan’s 26th, directed by Sivakumar Murugesan, reuniting the pair after Thaai Kizhavi and marking Sivakarthikeyan’s return to Raaj Kamal Films International following Amaran. Produced by Kamal Haasan with R Mahendran, it has Bhagyashri Borse as the female lead, with Bala Saravanan and Aruldoss also in the cast, and a technical crew led by composer Santhosh Narayanan and cinematographer Vivek Vijayakumar.

Its early glimpses have leaned hard into that rural texture. The teaser is set around a Maasi Kalari festival at a village temple, a police investigation opening up after a violent clash during the celebration, with Sivakarthikeyan’s character revered by locals as “Lord Virumandi.” The shoot began with a pooja in Madurai on May 18, which Kamal Haasan attended, and the first schedule wrapped in June. Seyon is aiming for an October release.