Exclusive! Hridayam’s ‘Selva’ Kalesh teams up with Sai Pallavi in Richie director Gautham Ramachandran’s next

Anyone who has seen Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Hridayam won’t forget Kalesh Ramanand’s character of Selva, who had a profound impact on its protagonist Arun Neelakandan’s life. Audiences have already made comparisons with the Pranav Mohanlal-starrer and Nivin Pauly’s Premam – both coming-of-age dramas. Incidentally, Kalesh will next be seen in Richie director Gautham Ramachandran’s second directorial, which has Sai Pallavi in the lead.

Confirming the news exclusively to OTTplay, a source close to the team tells us that the actor has wrapped up the shoot of the movie. “It’s a female-centric social drama with Sai Pallavi in the lead. Kalesh plays a character opposite to her. It’s a supporting role. He finished shooting for the movie after wrapping up his portions in Hridayam. The film should release within the next few months," says the source.

The movie will mark Sai Pallavi’s third Tamil movie after Maari 2 and NGK. She was also part of the Tamil anthology Paava Kadhaigal, which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The actress was last seen in Nani’s Telugu period film Shyam Singha Roy, which dropped on Netflix last week. Gautham’s previous directorial Richie, which was the Tamil remake of Rakshit Shetty’s Ulidavaru Kandanthe, had Nivin Pauly in the lead.

Meanwhile, the upcoming movie will mark Kalesh third Tamil film too. He had played small roles in Arvind Swami’s Thani Oruvan and a cameo in Madhavan’s Maara, the Tamil remake of Dulquer Salmaan’s Charlie. The actor has been part of Chennai theatre circles and has also been working as a dubbing artiste.

Kalesh made his debut almost eight years ago with Salim Ahammed’s Kunjananthante Kada, which starred Mammootty and Nyla Usha. On the feedback that Kalesh has been getting for his role in Hridayam, the actor in a recent interview had told us, “It’s been overwhelming. It was also a long time coming – not just the release of Hridayam but (the recognition) for me as an actor.”

Read the entire interview: Exclusive! Hridayam’s Kalesh Ramanand: Pranav considers himself as just another guy, that itself creates an aura