‘Pizza’ fame Karthik Subbaraj is back with ‘Jigarthanda’

Tamil director Karthik Subbaraj is back. After satiating viewers with his debut film, Pizza, a romantic thriller, Subbaraj returns, this time with a cool drink from Madurai called Jigarthanda.

The trailers of Subbaraj’s second film reads, ‘A musical gangster story’, and as you watch, a voice explains that jigar means heart while thanda is cold in Hindi. So, Jigarthanda refers to someone cold-hearted.

“Yes, it is a gangster thriller,” said Subbaraj, who quit an IT career in the US to pursue his love of cinema.

Set in Madurai, Jigarthanda stars Siddharth and Lakshmi Menon in the lead. Bobby Simha of Neram and Soodhu Kavvum fame plays the antagonist.

“Viewers will notice a completely different Siddharth,” said Subbaraj. “Even Simha has undergone a complete makeover. He plays a gangster, who looks beyond his age.”

Urban setting

With enough Tamil films based in Madurai, how different is this one going to be? “My story is set in the urban part of Madurai unlike the rural stories of other films,” he added.

Jigarthanda was sparked by incidents in Madurai during Subbaraj’s college days. He wrote this script much before he came up with Pizza. After being the runner-up in a television reality show for short films, Subbaraj approached several producers with the script of Jigarthanda. But it called for a big budget and producers were not keen on taking a chance with a newcomer.

But the success of Pizza established Subbaraj as a filmmaker, paving the way for Jigarthanda.

Santosh Narayanan who scored music for Pizza has composed tunes for Jigarthanda. Cinematography is by Gavemic U Ary.

Produced by Kathiresan, Jigarthanda releases worldwide on August 1.

Listed one among five Indian films to watch out for this year by Forbes India, Jigarthanda might be that cool drink you have been pining for. And “as in Pizza, there are surprises in store,” added Subbaraj.