Thalaivar173 Officially Announced With New Director

Rajinikanth’s next film tentatively titled Thalaivar173 has finally locked its director. After hearing stories from several young filmmakers from Tamil and Telugu Rajinikanth has chosen Cibi Chakravarthi.

The film was officially announced today and the makers confirmed a grand theatrical release during Pongal 2027.

The project is being co-produced by Kamal Haasan and R Mahendran under the Raaj Kamal Films International banner. Initially the film was launched with Sundar C as director but he exited due to other reasons.

After that, Kamal Haasan shortlisted young directors and arranged story narrations for Rajinikanth, with Cibi’s script impressing him the most.

Music will be composed by Anirudh Ravichander. The first poster carries the tagline, “Every family has a hero”.

#Thalaivar173 directed by #CibiChakravarthy

Releasing January 2027.#Rajinikanth #KamalHaasan #AnirudhRavichander pic.twitter.com/jYijSFmWMC

— Filmy Focus (@FilmyFocus) January 3, 2026