Recently, actor-filmmaker Basil Joseph announced the first proejct under his maiden production house, Basil Joseph Entertainment. Titled Athiradi, the film featuring himself, Tovino Thomas, and Vineeth Sreenivasan, is directed by debutant Arun Anirudhan, who co-wrote the Basil-directed Minnal Murali.
The team shared a first look of Basil's character, Sam Kutty, AKA, SamBoy.
Athiradi has a script co-written by Arun Anirudhan and Paulson Skaria ("Kaathal: The Core", "Neymar"). Basil is jointly backing the film with Dr. Ananthu S, founder of Xylem Learning, and filmmaker Sameer Thahir.
The team recently dropped a promo featuring Tovino Thomas, Basil Joseph, and Vineeth Sreenivasan. It was centered on Vineeth, seemingly reeling from the after-effects of a bashing from a mysterious character. We are then introduced to the characters played by Tovino and Basil, revealed to be unique personalities who may or may not have something to do with the incident. One of them is described by Vineeth as "a wildfire", the other "a storm." Vineeth signs off the footage with Kamal Haasan's "Aarambikalangala?" line from Lokesh Kanagaraj's blockbuster Vikram.
The team is currently in the middle of filming, aiming for an Onam 2026 release. Arun recently told THE WEEK that Athiradi is a "fun, action-packed" entertainer with some surprises that will be unveiled in due time. "The film will do justice to its title," he adds. Arun also shares that all three stars are playing the leads, will be sharing the screen, and that one or more are not present in a cameo capacity.
Vishnu Vijay ("Thallumaala", "Premalu") is the music composer. Samuel Henry is director of photography. Chaman Chakko ("Lokah", "RDX") is the editor.
The teaming up of Basil and Tovino in front of the screen again has, naturally, cranked up the excitement factor since both are known for their fun off-screen "rivalry" in the form of hilarious jibes in interviews and on social media. Basil has directed Tovino twice, in Godha and Minnal Murali, and worked together as actors in films such as Dear Friend and Ajayante Randam Moshanam.