Gautham Menon celebrates 50th birthday on sets of Vijay-Lokesh Kanagaraj's Leo in Kashmir, see photo

Filmmaker Gautham Menon celebrated his 50th birthday on the sets of Tamil superstar Vijay's upcoming film Leo. Seven Screen Studio, which is bankrolling the project, tweeted a picture of Gautham's birthday celebrations on the sets of Leo in Kashmir. The picture shows Gautham getting ready to cut his birthday cake with key members of the film's crew including director Lokesh Kanagaraj, and action choreographers Anbumani and Arivumani. The film's star cast, including Vijay and Trisha, was not seen in the picture. 

Gautham is fast becoming the most sought-after actor in Tamil cinema. He is part of the cast of several much-awaited Tamil movies, including Leo, and director Vetrimaaran's multi-starrer Viduthalai: Part 1. 

Gautham became a force to reckon with in the Tamil film industry in the early 2000s with blockbusters such as Minnale, Kaakha Kaakha, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu. And his career elevated to another level after delivering a romantic blockbuster called Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa in 2010. In 2015, he scored another major commercial hit with Yennai Arindhaal, starring Ajith in the lead role. 

In a career spanning over 20 years, Gautham has seen his seen of successes and failures. He's known for going to shoot without a pre-fixed climax scene for most of his films. It was said to be one of the reasons that prevented him from directing Vijay in a movie. Vijay is known for approving those projects that have a full-bound script to avoid the risk of production delays. 

Gautham was supposed to direct Vijay in Yohan: Adhyayam Ondru. But, the film was shelved as Vijay at the time felt it was too western in its sensibilities. 

Gautham still nurtures the interest to direct Vijay in a movie. While that desire remains unfulfilled, Gautham is now acting along with Vijay in Leo. 

Written and directed by Lokesh, Leo also stars Trisha, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Sarja, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Priya Anand, and Mansoor Ali Khan in supporting roles. The shooting of the film is going on in full swing in Kashmir and is expected to arrive in cinemas in October.