‘Vijay faced pressure from locals to choose Tamil director for final film', reveals Gopichand Malineni
Vijay will be bidding adieu to his acting career to pursue politics with his newly formed party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. Filmmaker H Vinoth's Jana Nayagan will mark his final appearance on screen. However, filmmaker Gopichand Malineni has now revealed that his film was originally supposed to be Vijay's swansong, but the actor changed his decision at the last minute and chose to star in Jana Nayagan instead.
Speaking to TeluguOne, Gopichand said, 'Immediately, after completing Veera Simha Reddy, I prepared a story and narrated it to Vijay gaaru. He liked it a lot, and said ok to the script in a single sitting.'
Gopichand Malineni went on to explain the reason behind Vijay's change of plans. He suggested that since Vijay is predominantly known for his work in Tamil cinema, he was advised to sign a Tamil film for his final appearance before entering politics in Tamil Nadu. As a result, he opted for Jana Nayagan.
He said, 'Right when we are planning to announce the film, when the news of Vijay joining politics became official, people around asked him to choose a Tamil filmmaker for his next project, instead of a Telugu director. He had already done a film called Varisu with a Telugu director (Vamshi Paidipally) so Vijay gaaru had some pressure from local people to not go again for a Telugu director. '
But Gopichand didn't stop there—he also approached Jr NTR for the same project. He said, 'After my 2015 film Pandaga Chesuko, I approached Jr NTR. He said, ''This is a very heavy script. I am expecting a more entertainment-driven script from you.''
Apart from Vijay, Jana Nayagan also stars Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Prakash Raj, Narain, Priyamani, Mamitha Baiju, Monisha Blessy, and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar. The film features music composed by Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography by Sathyan Sooryan, and editing by Pradeep E Ragav. It is scheduled to release on January 9, 2026.
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