A filmmaker who created a splash in the early 2000s, director Vishnuvardhan has made memorable films in his nearly two-decade old career, while also tasting massive box office successes with his works. Entering cinema at a young age as a child artiste in films like Mani Ratnam's Anjali and Iruvar and in Sathriyan in which he played the younger version of 'Captain' Vijayakanth, Vishnuvardhan turned to direction and joined as an assistant in the early stages of his full-time career in films. He then made his directorial debut in 2003 with Kurumbu, which didn't turn out to be the launchpad as he had expected.
Vishnuvardhan next returned with his second directorial, Arinthum Ariyamalum, in 2005, starring Arya and Navdeep in the lead roles and featured chart-buster music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The action drama turned out to be a smashing box office success, including drawing huge critical acclaim for its tight screenplay, performances and music. Vishnuvardhan's next Pattiyal saw him reunite once again with Arya, with the filmmaker bringing aboard Bharath, and the film in time going on to garner a big fan following.
The biggie, Billa, was Vishnuvardhan's next with none other than Ajith Kumar in the lead role and was an official remake of the 'Superstar' Rajinikanth blockbuster of the same title. The 2007 version was a more modern-day adaptation and showed the uber cool Ajith fans were waiting to witness for a long time. Vishnuvardhan's next two films, Sarvam, starring Arya and Trisha, including his Telugu debut, Panjaa, with 'Power Star' Pawan Kalyan didn't exactly become big hits as he would have expected, but the filmmaker hit the bullseye once again with 'Thala' Ajith in 2013 with Arrambam. The cop action thriller was a blast at the box office after which Vishnuvardhan made Yatchan starring his brother Krishna and Arya, with hit music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. His last directorial effort was the ZEE5 Tamil web series, Fingertip, in 2019, after which it was announced that he would be making his directorial debut in Bollywood.
Vishnuvardhan's Bollywood directorial debut, Shershaah, produced jointly by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Kaash Entertainment, is a biographical war action film based on the life journey of Param Vir Chakra awardee and Indian Army Captain Vikram Batra. Starring Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani in the lead roles, the upcoming film was initially announced to be releasing in theatres last year on July 3, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the film complete and post-production works also said to be complete, the makers of Shershaah dropped the massive announcement of its worldwide theatrical release.
Taking to his Twitter page, Vishnuvardhan informed fans of the Shershaah release date saying the film will be out in theatres on July 2 this year. He tweeted, "Guys, finally happy to announce my first Hindi feature’s release “The untold true story of Captain Vikram Batra (PVC) is coming to the big screens. #Shershaah coming to theatres near you on 2nd July, 2021, starring Sidharth Malhotra & Kiara Advani. See you at the movies!" Check out his tweet below:
Guys, finally happy to announce my first Hindi feature’s release “The untold true story of Captain Vikram Batra (PVC) is coming to the big screens. #Shershaah coming to theatres near you on 2nd July, 2021, starring Sidharth Malhotra & Kiara Advani. See you at the movies!” pic.twitter.com/YMHzQBjMMe
— vishnu varadhan (@vishnu_dir) February 20, 2021