Kamal Haasan's Sandiyar: the title he dropped in 2004 returns at 72

Kamal Haasan's next film as lead actor is called Sandiyar, his production house Raaj Kamal Films International announced on Friday, 6 November 2026, a day before the actor's 72nd birthday. The film is directed by S U Arun Kumar, the maker of the Tamil drama Chithha, and the first-look poster shows the actor holding a revolver in a blood-stained setting. Reports on Saturday, 7 November said filming began on his birthday. The choice of title has drawn attention because Sandiyar was the original name of a Kamal Haasan film more than twenty years ago, a name he dropped after protests; that film reached cinemas as Virumaandi in 2004.

Titles rarely make news on their own. This one does because of its past. When Kamal Haasan first announced a film called Sandiyar in the early 2000s, caste-based groups in southern Tamil Nadu objected to the name, saying it could stir tension in the region where the story was set. Reports of the period, recalled in this week's coverage, say shooting was moved from Madurai to Chennai and the actor reluctantly changed the title. The film was released as Virumaandi for Pongal in 2004.

Bringing back the same word two decades later, on a film about revenge, is a deliberate choice by a producer who has never been shy of argument. Some reports already describe opposition to the name in Tamil Nadu. Filmmaker Lenin Bharathi, director of the award-winning Merku Thodarchi Malai, was reported to have questioned the poster's message that revenge can only be settled in blood, asking whether cinema should keep presenting violence as the answer at a time when real violence worries society. Neither the actor nor the production house had publicly responded to that criticism at the time of writing.

The pairing is also new. S U Arun Kumar made his name with Chithha, and reports describe Sandiyar as his first film with Kamal Haasan. With Anirudh's music, Anbariv's action choreography and a poster built around a gun and blood, the makers are signalling a large-scale action film rather than a quiet drama. The story and the rest of the cast are still under wraps, so the poster and tagline are all audiences have to go on for now.

For Kamal Haasan, the film comes at a busy time. The makers chose the eve of his 72nd birthday for the reveal and the birthday itself for the start of filming, which put the announcement in front of fans at the moment they were most likely to be looking.

Peepals timeline: Early 2000s, a Kamal Haasan film is announced under the title Sandiyar and caste-based groups object. Pongal 2004, the same film is released as Virumaandi after the title change. Friday, 6 November 2026, Raaj Kamal Films International names the new film with S U Arun Kumar Sandiyar and releases the first look. Saturday, 7 November 2026, filming is reported to begin on the actor's 72nd birthday.

Short-term: The title is likely to be debated in Tamil Nadu in the coming days, and any formal objection from groups that opposed it in 2004 would put pressure on the makers. Fans, meanwhile, get a first look at the actor's next lead role.

Long-term: Whether the title survives to release will show how much the climate around such names has changed in two decades. A smooth run would give the makers a talking point; a forced change would repeat the Virumaandi story.

Who is affected: Kamal Haasan's audience in Tamil Nadu and across South India, the production house and its partners, cinema owners planning their release calendars, and groups who object to caste-linked titles.

Questions and Answers