Vidiyum Kaathiru first look: M.S. Bhaskar is next

After three decades of quietly walking away with other people’s films, the kind of veteran ballast he lent the independent drama Oru Nodi, M.S. Bhaskar gets a poster all to himself. Vidiyum Kaathiru, a crime thriller from debutant director R. Aravinda Rajan, has released its first look, and it puts Bhaskar’s face where Tamil cinema has rarely placed it: front and centre, filling the frame.

The image is built around a single oversized keyhole. Through it, Bhaskar’s eye stares out, wide and sweating, while a chalked scrawl across the battered door asks “you are next?” It is a clean, unsettling piece of design that tells you the register the film is going for before a single frame has been shown.

The premise leans into that unease. Two police officers walk into a house where a murder has taken place, and what unfolds inside is not entirely of this world. Bhaskar plays one of the investigating officers, an inspector named V. Muthu going by the stills, and the promotional images keep him in khaki throughout, forensic gloves on, in rooms lit like something is watching. Amjadha Sherin plays the female lead, with Gopi Ayodhi as a fellow police officer and Baby Srijitha and Rakesh in key roles.

Aravinda Rajan arrives with an interesting pedigree. He sat in on story discussions for films by Bala and Mysskin, two filmmakers who between them cover most of the dark territory Tamil cinema has mapped. A crime thriller with a supernatural undertow is about the most natural first film that schooling could produce.

C. Sathya composes the music. G. Dhamodharan is doing double duty, handling both cinematography and editing. Metro Mahesh choreographs the action, Aiswarya handles the dance sequences, and Rajan Valivitan is the art director.

The entire film was shot in and around Chennai, and filming has wrapped. Post-production is in its final stretch, and the team says a release date will be announced shortly.