Varisu: Of Thalapathy Vijay films and the 'V' sentiment, details inside

What's in a title? Apparently, everything! Tamil filmmakers have tried and tested different methodologies for catchy titles. Call it coincidence or a mascot effect, 'V' has worked well with Ajith Kumar. Some of his biggest hits like Vaalee, Villain, Varalaru, and Viswasam started with 'V'. So, will the same alphabet bring luck to Vijay, with his upcoming release, Varisu? Fingers crossed.

OTTplay brings to you the list of Thalapathy Vijay films that starts with 'V':

Vetri (1984): Directed by Vijay's filmmaker-father SA Chandrasekhar, Vetri features Vijayakanth in the lead role. The film, which has songs by Shankar-Ganesh, saw Vijay play a cameo, as a child artiste, and this marks his first-ever on-screen appearance. Vetri was a remake of the director's Kannada film Geluvu Nannade, which was eventually remade into Telugu as Devanthakudu. Vijay loves challenges and goes to any limit to win them. But one such challenge lands him in prison on a murder charge, as he was used as a pawn to kill his professor.

Vasantha Ragam (1986): Directed by SA Chandrasekhar, this is a romantic drama that features Vijayakanth, Malayalam actor Rahman, Sudha Chandran and so on. Vijay plays a child artiste in this film, which has songs by MS Viswanathan. Vasantha Ragam was produced by Vijay's mother, Shoba Chandrasekhar.

Vishnu (1995): Directed by SA Chandrasekhar, the film features Jaishankar, Vijay and Sanghavi in lead roles. Vishnu has music by Deva. The film is known for its famous song track, Doddabetta Rottu Mela... Vishnu leaves his overbearing father and, pretending to be an orphan, finds work with a man who also adopts him. Vishnu is shocked when he is asked to kill a bunch of people including his father.

Vasantha Vaasal (1996): Directed by MR, this action romance film featured Vijay, Swathi, Mansoor Ali Khan, Vadivelu, and Kovai Sarala in important roles. Vijay and Divya have different ambitions in life. While he aspires to become an actor, she hates acting and wants to excel in academics. He also discovers that her uncle is forcing her to act. Vasantha Vaasal was a flop.

Vaseegara (2003): Directed by Selva Bharathy, this one is a Tamil remake of the Telugu film, Nuvvu Naaku Nachav. Vaseegara also stars Sneha, Vadivelu, Nassar, and Manivannan, among others. The film was a moderate success at the box office. A young educated unemployed youth comes to attend the marriage of his Father's close friend's daughter. He ultimately makes her fall in love with him and marries her in the end.

Villu (2009): Directed by Prabhudheva, Villu is an unofficial remake of the Hindi film, Soldier. Vijay, while promoting Villu, had said he could never imagine himself in a completely offbeat role. This was his reply when he was asked why only commercial films interest him. Villu also featured Nayanthara, Vadivelu, Prakash Raj, Manoj Jayan and others, in key roles. Pugazh, a police officer, wants to avenge the death of his father. He kills the four notorious criminals who were responsible for this heinous crime.

Vettaikaaran (2009): Directed by newbie Babusivan, the film was bankrolled by AVM Productions. Vettaikaaran marked the first-ever collaboration of Vijay and the legendary production house. Although Vettaikaaran was released to mixed reviews, it enjoyed commercial success. The film also features Anushka Shetty, Salim Ghose, Sathyan, Sayaji Shinde, Lakshmy Ramakrishnan and others. The album of Vettaikaaran is a hit, to date. Ravi, a student aspiring to become a police officer, becomes the target of a politician. He turns vigilante with the identity of "police Ravi" to secure justice.

Velayudham (2011): Vijay stepped into the shoes of a fantasy character, a superhero for the first time, with this Mohan Raja-directorial. The director did a non-remake film for the first time, and it worked to his favour. The Vijay-starrer was released for Diwali, clashing with Suriya's 7 aum Arivu. Both films performed well at the box office to transform into profitable ventures for the respective makers. The film also featured Hansika, Genelia, Santhanam, Saranya Mohan, Soori, Abhimanyu Singh, and others in key roles. After a villager unwittingly prevents some terrorist attacks in Chennai, a young journalist identifies and persuades him to take on the disguise of a superhero to fight terrorism and corruption.

Varisu (2022): Also starring Rashmika Mandanna, the film, directed by Vamshi Paidapally, is expected to hit screens during Pongal 2023. The first look poster and title of this one were announced a day before Vijay turned 48. This is the actor's 66th film, which has the tagline 'The Boss Returns'. Touted to be a family drama, Varisu has a host of actors including Prabhu, Sarath Kumar, Prakash Raj, Khushbu, Yogi Babu, Sangeetha, Srikanth, Shaam, and Samyuktha Shanmuganathan. Produced by Dil Raju and Shirish under their Sri Venkateswara Creations production banner, the film has music by Thaman S, cinematography by Karthik Palani, and editing by Praveen KL. Varisu marks Vamshi’s maiden venture in Tamil cinema.