Thalaivar 173: Cibi Chakaravarthi To Direct Rajinikanth Starrer After Sundar C's Exit

Kamal Haasan on Saturday (January 3) announced Thalaivar 173 with a new poster and a video. Filmmaker Cibi Chakaravarthi has boarded as the new director after Sundar C's exit from the Rajinikanth-starrer. It marks Rajinikanth’s collaboration with Kamal Haasan's production banner, Raaj Kamal Films International. The highly anticipated film will hit the theatres on Pongal 2027.

Sharing the announcement, the makers confirmed Chakaravarthi as the director of Thalaivar 173, which comes with a tagline, "Every Hero Has A Family."

"Celebrations begin," wrote Kamal Haasan on X, sharing the poster and the video.

Cibi also announced the news on X, as he wrote, "Once, a small-town boy’s big dream was to meet his favourite star “SUPER STAR” & take a picture with him, which drove his passion towards cinema — and the big dream happened one day. Then he had the biggest dream of directing his Superstar. He came so close, but got missed. Then he continued to believe it would happen one day — and today is that day. #Thalaivar173 Day (sic)."

"And I remember Thalaivar saying, "Dreams do come true. Miracles do happen." At times, life goes beyond dreams and becomes even bigger, with legendary Ulaganayakan, Padma Shri @ikamalhaasan sir and #Mahendran sir as our producer. Grateful forever @rajinikanth sir, @ikamalhaasan sir & #Mahendran sir — and I promise to put my heart & soul to keep up the trust (sic)," he added.

Earlier, Sundar C, citing the reason behind his exit from Rajinikanth's film, in a statement, said that due to "unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances," he has made the "difficult decision to step back from the prestigious project."