’Diya’: Five reasons to watch the Sai Pallavi starrer

Director AL Vijay and Sai Pallavi are collaborating for the first time in ‘Diya’, which is all set to hit the screens tomorrow. Touted to be the first Tamil release after the industry strike that lasted for 48 days, ‘Diya’ has had a good buzz on social media. The film is all set to clash with the massive ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ at the box-office. Here are five reasons to watch the Sai Pallavi starrer.

Among the younger crop of directors, AL Vijay has been reasonably successful with back-to-back hits. The director, who made his debut with the Ajith Kumar starrer ‘Kireedam’, has worked with top heroes like Vijay, Ajith Kumar and Vikram. According to reports, Vijay apparently wrote the script of ‘Diya’ three years before it went on the floors in 2017. After much delay, the film was announced by Lyca Productions and was previously titled ‘Karu’. Vijay, in an interview, stated that ‘Karu’ is not a regular horror film, but it would be an intense emotional thriller.

Sai Pallavi created waves in Tamil Nadu after her Malayalam film ‘Premam’ released here. The film was a monstrous hit at the box-office and completed a 100-day run in theatres. Since then, Sai Pallavi became a household name in Tamil Nadu. Fans of the actress have been eagerly waiting for her Tamil debut and Sai Pallavi was supposed to act in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Kaatru Veliyidai’. However, she turned down the offer due to date issues. News about Pallavi’s debut once again cropped up when Vikram’s ‘Sketch’ started to roll. But she once again opted out of the project. And that’s when AL Vijay came up with ‘Diya’. In fact, Vijay previously wanted to work with Sai Pallavi in ‘Charlie’ remake in Tamil starring R Madhavan in the lead. However, the film never took off. With ‘Diya’ slated to release tomorrow, everyone has their hopes pinned on Sai Pallavi as the film is said to revolve around the female protagonist. Will ‘Diya’ be a gamechanger for the ‘Premam’ actress in Tamil? Only time will tell.

Going by the teaser and promos, ‘Diya’ seems to revolve around a young mother who is forced to abort her child and is haunted by the fetus. Sai Pallavi will play the mother of the unborn child in the film and the story is centered on her. ‘Diya’ explores the bond between a mother and an unborn child that’s featured in a compelling way. Vijay also revealed that he wanted to make a film for a social cause and hence, he went on to write a story that addresses the issue of abortions and how unsafe it is for women sometimes. ‘Diya’ is being simultaneously released in Telugu as ‘Kanam’. It must be noted that Sai Pallavi has a reasonably good market in Tollywood and films like ‘Fidaa’ and ‘MCA’ were runaway hits at the box-office. Apparently, the makers wanted to cash in her popularity in Telugu cinema as well.

One of the main highlights of ‘Diya’ is its decent supporting cast. Apart from Sai Pallavi, the makers have roped in Naga Shourya to play the role of a doting husband. But what’s exciting about ‘Diya’ is Veronika Arora, who plays a pivotal role in the film. If reports are anything to go by, Veronika has given a stellar performance as Diya. The film also stars some of the senior actors like Santhana Bharathi, Rekha and Nizhalgal Ravi in supporting roles, while RJ Balaji will provide the comic relief.

Sam CS is one of the most promising young music composers we have today. Ever since the release of ‘Vikram Vedha’, Sam has been getting a lot of offers from many directors. This is the first time AL Vijay is working with another composer, replacing his usual composer GV Prakash Kumar. ‘Diya’ is reported to have three songs, which are written by Madhan Karky. Apart from the songs, Sam’s background score is one of the many things to look forward to in ‘Diya’.