Thalaivar173: Cibi Chakravarthi to direct Rajinikanth

Superstar Rajinikanth’s next film, tentatively titled Thalaivar173, has finally found its director. After evaluating several young filmmakers from Tamil and Telugu cinema, Rajinikanth has given his approval to Cibi Chakravarthi, best known for directing Don, starring Sivakarthikeyan.

The project was officially announced today, with the makers confirming that the film is slated for a grand theatrical release during Pongal 2027.

Legendary actor Kamal Haasan is co-producing the film with R Mahendran on Raaj Kamal Films International banner. Interestingly, the project was initially launched with Sunder C as the director, but he exited due to creative differences over the script. Following this, Kamal Haasan shortlisted multiple young directors and arranged story narrations for Rajinikanth. Among them, Cibi Chakravarthy’s narration reportedly impressed the superstar the most.

Cibi had earlier narrated a script to Telugu star Nani and waited for a long time for the project to take shape, but it did not materialise. Now, the filmmaker has landed the biggest opportunity of his career with Rajinikanth.

Music for Thalaivar173 will be composed by Anirudh Ravichander. The first poster carries the tagline, “Every family has a hero.”