Kaatru Veliyidai

Kaatru Veliyidai
Poster
Tamil	காற்று வெளியிடை
Directed by	Mani Ratnam
Produced by	Mani Ratnam
Written by	Mani Ratnam
Starring	Karthi Aditi Rao Hydari
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Ravi Varman
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Production company	Madras Talkies
Distributed by	Sri Thenandal Films
Release dates	March 2017 (2017-03)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kaatru Veliyidai (English: Breezy Expanse) is an upcoming Indian Tamil-language romance film written, produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. Featuring Karthi and Aditi Rao Hydari in the lead roles, the film has music composed by A. R. Rahman and cinematography by Ravi Varman. Principal photography of the film commenced on 8 July 2016 in Ooty. The film will be dubbed in Telugu language titled "Duet" and will be released in March 2017.

Cast

• Karthi
• Aditi Rao Hydari
• Delhi Ganesh
• Vipin Sharma
• RJ Balaji
• Harish Raj
• K. P. A. C. Lalitha
• Rukmini Vijayakumar
• Shraddha Srinath
• Amritaa Singh
• Dhyana Madan

Production

Development

After shelving a multi-starrer project featuring Karthi and Dulquer Salmaan in the lead roles during December 2015, it was reported in the media that Mani Ratnam would instead work on a new film retaining Karthi as the lead actor and A. R. Rahman and Ravi Varman as the music composer and cinematographer, respectively.^[1][2] In February 2016, Karthi confirmed that he had signed on to play the lead role and would collaborate with the director twelve years after having worked with him as an assistant during the making of Aayutha Ezhuthu (2004). Mani Ratnam requested Karthi to lose weight through the CrossFit programme and learn the basics of flying to portray the lead character of a pilot.^[3][1] The start of the film was delayed as the team wanted to wait for a better climate, before beginning the shoot in Kashmir, while the team also chose to wait for Karthi to finish his commitments for the production of Kaashmora (2016).^[4] Sai Pallavi successfully auditioned for the leading female role of a doctor in the project and was signed on to make her debut as a lead actress in the Tamil film industry through the project.^[5] However in April 2016, Mani Ratnam later felt that the character had to be older and opted to leave Sai Pallavi out of the project, later replacing her with Aditi Rao Hydari.^[6] Hydari participated in Tamil lessons prior to the film's shoot, in order to improve her understanding of the script.^[7]

Mani Ratnam and his team began location hunting in April 2016 to seek out replacements to resemble Kashmir and scouted areas including Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Kodaikanal, Ooty and Coonoor.^[8] Meanwhile, Mani Ratnam also worked closely with music composer A. R. Rahman and lyricist Vairamuthu in finalising seven songs for the film during the pre-production period.^[9] Actors RJ Balaji and Delhi Ganesh joined the cast of the film in July 2016, while actress Shraddha Srinath revealed that she would feature in a small role.^[10] Kannada actor Harish Raj and Hindi actor Vipin Sharma also joined the first schedule of the film, making their debuts in the Tamil film industry.^[11][12] Likewise, actresses Lalitha and Rukmini Vijayakumar were signed up for roles during the film's initial schedule.^[13] The film's first look poster was revealed in early July 2016, with the title of Kaatru Veliyidai, inspired by a poem by Subramania Bharati, officially announced,^[14] meaning Breezy expanse.^[15]

Filming

The shoot of the film began in early July 2016 in Nilgiris, Ooty with a twenty-day schedule featuring Karthi and Aditi Rao Hydari. The location was chosen to show Kashmir on screen, as the latter's climate had made conducting shooting there difficult.^[16] Art director Amaran and production designer Sharmishta Roy worked together on designing the set during the first schedule, choosing to enhance existing backgrounds rather than to create lavish sets.^[17] A second schedule for the film took place in Hyderabad during October 2016, lasting a period of ten days.^[18][19] The team then moved to Ladakh for a third schedule.^[20] 60% of filming was completed by October 2016.^[21]

References

External links