Thalapathy Vijay's Beast drops on Netflix; details inside

Vijay’s Beast, also starring Selvaraghavan, Pooja Hegde, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley, choreographer Sathish, Shine Tom Chacko, VTV Ganesh and Aparna Das, is streaming on Netflix, along with Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi versions. The action-comedy, directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, had released in theatres on April 13. Beast opened to mixed reviews. Despite tough competition from Yash’s KGF 2, the film is still in cinemas.

Beast, which features Vijay as a former RAW agent, trying to rescue people held hostage in a shopping mall, managed to mint Rs 200 crore within six days of its release.

In several interviews, Nelson had admitted though Beast was made keeping Vijay's huge fan base in mind, he wanted something different.

"Usually, his films have many songs but in Beast, it's just the two we released and the theme song. Unlike in his other films, much of this film happens within a single location, and he will be seen in just one costume for a long time. There's no intro song for him either. Some worried that he may have reservations, but he didn’t," Nelson told Cinema Express.

Further, Nelson added Vijay's character in Beast was an extension of his real persona. "Unlike in my previous film, Doctor, Beast, has quite a few action sequences, including one involving a fighter jet. The punch lines will be subtle and different. There will be lots of comedy as well. I’d say the film is 60 percent action and 40 per cent humour. While Doctor was about the escapades of a team, Beast revolves around Vijay’s character, who’s somewhat like John Wick," Nelson added, in his interview with Cinema Express.

Nelson started work on Beast when his second feature Doctor was still under production. Up next, the filmmaker has Thalaivar 169, in his kitty.

Nelson had told the Hindu, “During the shoot of Beast, Vijay sir told me that Rajini sir was free and open to listening to scripts. When I told Vijay sir that I may not be able to match the pattern Rajini sir works with, he said, ‘Think about it for a few days and work on it’.”

Beast became Vijay’s fourth film to collect Rs 250 crore, after Mersal, Sarkar and Bigil.

Anirudh Ravichander, who had successful collaborations with Vijay in films like Kaththi and Master, is the music director of Beast.

Beast, bankrolled by Sun Pictures, has cinematography by Manoj Paramhamsa and editing by R Nirmal.

Despite delays and difficulties caused by the pandemic, the entire unit of Beast claimed that shooting for the film had been an enjoyable experience.