National Award-winning Tamil actor Vikram will be teaming up with acclaimed filmmaker Pa. Ranjith for the tentatively titled Chiyaan 61 being bankrolled by blockbuster producer-distributor K. E. Gnanavelraja's Studio Green banner. Announced towards the end of last year, the upcoming venture will roll into production from July 15, Gnanavelraja revealed in an exclusive interview with Galatta. The hit producer has also announced Chiyaan 61, which marks the first-time collaboration for Vikram and Pa. Ranjith, will be made on a grand scale, while also adding that the film will be loaded with action set in a different time period, and is the biggest Studio Green venture to date. 

Expectations for Chiyaan 61 have been massive and all sights are now on the team to reveal the remaining cast and crew, with reports for a while now doing the rounds that legendary composer 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja will be coming on board for the film's music and background score, with an official announcement now being awaited. Both Vikram and Pa. Ranjith are riding high on the success of their previous ventures as the former had received universal praise for his seasoned and power-packed performance in Mahaan alongside his son Dhruv Vikram, while the latter delivered a knockout with his boxing drama, Sarpatta Parambarai, starring Arya. It is to be noted that both films were OTT releases on Amazon Prime Video and went on to become huge successes for the streaming giant. 

Apart from Chiyaan 61, Vikram will next be seen in the highly-anticipated action espionage thriller Cobra releasing in theatres worldwide on August 11 under Demonte Colony fame Ajay Gnanamuthu's direction produced by Lalit Kumar's 7 Screen Studio banner featuring music by Academy Award-winning composer A. R. Rahman. A month after Cobra's release, Vikram will be seen in ace director Mani Ratnam's ambitious epic period drama film adaptation of celebrated Tamil writer Kalki Krishnamurthy's Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 hitting screens on September 30, which will also star Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Trisha Krishnan in core roles. As for Pa. Ranjith, the filmmaker is busy with the post-production works of his Natchathiram Nagargirathu starring Kalidas Jayaram and Dushara Vijayan in the lead roles, while also announcing his Bollywood debut, a biopic on the Jharkhand tribal leader, Birsa Munda, under Shareen Mantri and Kishor Arora's Namah Pictures banner. Having also tasted critical acclaim as a producer with his Neelam Productions banner, Ranjith also has in the pipeline ventures like J.Baby and an untitled project in collaboration with Balloon Pictures. 

Watch producer K. E. Gnanavelraja talk about Chiyaan 61 and more in the interview below: