On June 21, Pinkvilla was the first to reveal that Thalapathy Vijay will be playing the role of a gangster in his 40s in Lokesh Kanagaraj’s next with a salt and pepper look. A couple of months later on September 12, we informed our readers that Sanjay Dutt has come on board the film as the main antagonist for a sum of Rs 10 crore. We also wrote about how this gangster thriller warrants the presence of multiple antagonists. And now, we have exclusively learnt that Gautham Menon has been cast to play one of the antagonists in this big-scale actioner.
“Gautham Menon and Lokesh Kanagaraj have been trying to work for a while now and the things have finally fallen in place. Gautham will be playing one of the key villains of Thalapathy 67 alongside Sanjay Dutt. All his character traits have been kept under wraps, but it’s said to be a whack negative lead with Gautham Menon like never before,” revealed a source close to the project. As informed before, Thalapathy 67 will be a Pan India release, and the makers also have some ideas of merging with the Lokesh Kanagaraj Gangster Universe, which already rides on the presence stars like of Karthi, Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil, and Suriya.
“While Lokesh has some cinematic links with his universe, he is yet to get a go ahead from the three giants - Kamal Haasan, Suriya and Vijay on collaborating for this universe. At this point of time, Thalapathy 67 is treated as an independent entity, with some open ends for a probable universe,” the source added.
Apart from Sanjay Dutt and Gautham Menon, more actors will be cast to play characters with grey shades in the film. Talks are also on with top names from Malayalam industry too, but there is nothing on paper yet. Thalapathy 67 will be targeting a Diwali 2023 release, as Lokesh intends to take it on floors by November this year. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates.
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