Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe to now hit the theatres on Pongal next year

Actor Rajinikanth’s upcoming Tamil film, Annaatthe will not hit the theatres on Diwali this year but has been pushed to next year’s Pongal festival. In a video released on their Twitter handle, Sun Pictures confirmed Pongal 2021 as the new release date for the film, which has been directed by Sivakumar Jayakumar.

The project, which will see Rajinikanth play a caring brother, marks his maiden collaboration with Sivakumar, best known for helming Veeram (2014) and Viswasam (2019).Tipped to be a rural drama, the film also stars Keerthy Suresh, Gopichand and Kushboo in key roles. The film was officially launched last December in Chennai in a low-key affair.

Rajinikanth will next team up with director Lokesh Kanagaraj for a yet-untitled Tamil project, which will be produced by Kamal Haasan. The film is expected to be officially launched in a few months.

The actor was last seen playing an angry cop out to avenge his daughter’s death in Darbar (2020), which was directed by AR Murugadoss.

Despite grossing over Rs200 crore worldwide, Darbar turned out to be a damp squib at the box-office. Following the failure of Darbar, it is rumoured that Rajinikanth agreed to reduce his remuneration by half for Annaatthe.