Parasakthi: Will Sivakarthikeyan’s gain prove ‘lost opportunities’ for Dulquer, Nazriya and Suriya?
Sivakarthikeyan is currently a ‘hot property’ in Tamil cinema, with back-to-back hits, especially after the mammoth success of Amaran, in which he starred alongside Sai Pallavi. Amaran was based on the life story of Major Mukund Varadarajan.
The top star has an array of films lined up, with SK 23 being directed by A. R. Murugadoss, and SK 24, which will see him collaborating with Cibi Chakravarthy after Don. Every update on these movies is eagerly awaited by the actor’s fans.
However, one particular movie that both his fans and cinephiles are eagerly waiting for is SK 25. This film, directed by Sudha Kongara, follows the critical and commercial success of Soorarai Pottru, which won multiple national awards. The title teaser for SK 25, titled Parasakthi, has already been released by the film's production team. The film will feature Ravi Mohan in the role of the villain, alongside Atharvaa, Sreeleela, and others in pivotal roles. Reports suggest that the film will be based on the student protests against Hindi imposition in the 1970s at colleges in Chennai. The film has been created on a grand budget, with music composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. The movie is slated to hit theatres in 2026.
However, there are rumours circulating that Parasakthi was originally meant to be the film Purananooru, directed by Sudha Kongara, starring Suriya in the lead role. If reports are to be believed, the film also had Dulquer Salmaan, Nazriya Nazim, and Vijay Varma in important roles and was announced as Suriya’s 44th film. The announcement video for Purananooru received massive attention on social media. However, Suriya officially backed out of the project last year for undisclosed reasons. Following this, both Dulquer Salmaan and Nazriya also decided to withdraw from the film, leading to its official abandonment.
In a significant turn of events, the film was reworked with slight modifications to the script and rebranded as Parasakthi. The title teaser for the film has sparked a wave of reactions from fans, with many expressing concern that Parasakthi could become a major miss and career setback for both Suriya and Dulquer Salmaan, as the project has now taken a new direction with a different lead actor.
It is well known that Suriya is desperate for a comeback after the colossal failure of Kanguva, which is considered one of the biggest flops in the history of Indian cinema. The actor has not had a bona fide box office success for over a decade, with both notable films between Jai Bhim and Soorarai Pottru being OTT releases.
When it comes to Dulquer Salmaan, the film could have offered much. The actor just breathed a sigh of relief with his last release Lucky Baskhar after the monumental failure of his much-anticipated Malayalam action flick King of Kotha in 2023.
Did the actors miss a golden opportunity? Their fans hope it’s not so.
As anticipation builds, Parasakthi is now one of the most talked-about films in Tamil cinema, and the industry is watching closely to see how the film performs at the box office, given the reshuffling of stars.