Petta (film)

Development

In early February 2018, after completing his filming commitments for Pa. Ranjith's Kaala (2018), Rajinikanth held final discussions with a group of young directors including Arun Prabu Purushothaman, Atlee and Karthik Subbaraj for his next project.^[2] On 23 February 2018, production house Sun Pictures announced that they would produce a film starring Rajinikanth to be directed by Karthik Subbaraj. To accommodate the film's shoot throughout the course of 2018, the director postponed the pre-production work of another proposed film starring Dhanush for Y NOT Studios.^[3][4] Subbaraj revealed that he was confident about approaching Rajinikanth to work on his film, after the actor was impressed with his earlier project, Jigarthanda (2014) and expressed a desire to collaborate. The pair had first discussed the script in early 2017, but Rajinikanth did not take a final call until finishing his existing filming commitments to Kaala and 2.0 (2018).^[5] Talking about the project, Subbaraj initially revealed that the film would be an "action drama" which was "fictional" but "realistic".^[6][7]

Anirudh Ravichander was signed on to work as the film's music composer in early March 2018, in a move which saw him collaborate with his maternal uncle Rajinikanth, and Subbaraj, for the first time.^[8][9] Tirru and Vivek Harshan were selected to be the film's cinematographer and editor respectively, continuing their collaboration with Subbaraj following their work in Mercury (2018).^[10] Likewise, stunt choreographer Peter Hein also joined the team thereafter.^[11] In late May 2018, Subbaraj and Tirru went on a recce to scout locations in Nepal and North India to shoot the film.^[12] The film's title Petta was revealed on 7 September 2018.^[1]

Casting

Vijay Sethupathi was signed on to play a character in April 2018, and accordingly reworked his dates to fit the film into his busy schedule.^[13][14] The actor signed the film after a month of media speculation that he would portray a villainous role, and revealed that he signed the film as he had blind trust in Subbaraj, and initially did not request to listen to the script.^[15] Hindi film actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui joined the cast in July 2018, while two other regular collaborators of Subbaraj, actors Bobby Simha and Sananth, were also signed to play pivotal roles in the film.^[16] Other members of the cast included supporting actors Guru Somasundaram,^[17] Ramdoss,^[18] Deepak Paramesh,^[19] and Manikandan R. Achari.^[20]

For leading female roles, the team held discussions throughout March 2018 with actresses Trisha, Deepika Padukone and Anjali but neither were signed immediately.^[21][22][23] In July 2018, the producers announced that Simran had joined the cast to play a pivotal role.^[24] Trisha was eventually added to the cast in August 2018,^[25] while Malavika Mohanan was also signed to appear alongside Rajinikanth.^[26][27] Megha Akash was cast as Sananth's pair, and joined the shoot before the release of any of her initial Tamil films, Boomerang, Enai Noki Paayum Thota and Oru Pakka Kathai.^[28] In early October, M. Sasikumar joined the cast.^[29]

Filming

The first schedule of the shoot began on 7 June 2018 at Eastern Forest Rangers College at St. Mary’s Hill, Kurseong in Darjeeling, with the initial portions lasting nine days. The team then shot in other location across Darjeeling and the hilltowns for a further month, in locations including St. Paul’s and Mount Hermon School.^[30][31] To finish the first schedule, the team returned to Kurseong for six days. An audition to cast 150 local actors was also held in Charbagh, Lucknow during the first schedule.^[32] During the making of the schedule, Rajinikanth met with politician Gautam Deb, who helped the makers have a hassle free shoot in exchange for the promotion of tourism in the area.^[33]