As expected, Vijay’s birthday was a celebration of sorts for his fans, who have become accustomed to receiving some news about his latest film on June 22 every year. This Deepavali will mark his third collaboration with friend and director Atlee , after two consecutive hits in Theri (2016) and Mersal (2017).
Now, will Bigil follow the same path? First, credit should be given to Atlee (and perhaps Vijay has a role in this too) for picking catchy titles that not only trend on social media, but also become catchphrases within days. It’s easy these days to hear a school or college kid say, “ Theri, baby !” or “ Machan, mersal-a irundhuchu da …”
Another interesting fact is Vijay’s knack for picking one-word titles. Some quick research reveals that in the last two decades and spanning 37 films with him in the lead —beginning with Kushi (2000) until Bigil (2019) — only two have multiple-word titles! Pudhiya Geethai and Azhagiya Tamil Magan , both of which disappointed at the box-office.
Indeed, since ATM (2007) all his films —17 of them — have had single-word titles. Lucky charm, perhaps? Clearly, this is a conscious decision made by ‘Thalapathy’… much like his other recent move to remove the ‘ilaya’ from his earlier sobriquet ‘Ilayathalapathy’.
These titles have varied from being names of the protagonist in the film ( Bagavathi, Sachein, Velayudham ) to terms that capture the zeitgeist of the character ( Thuppakki, Sarkar and so on).
Bigil seems to fit in the latter category. A local term meaning ‘whistle’, it is a direct reference to the whistle used during a football match. The film is a sporting drama in which Vijay coaches and mentors a women’s football team.
After both the first and second looks released to much fanfare on social media —some hashtags related to Vijay or wishing him on his birthday such as #HappyBirthdayThalapathy were in India’s top five trends all day —now fans are busy deliberating if there is only one lead character in the movie (like in Theri, that just featured the actor in three different looks) or if it could be a dual or triple role (as in Mersal ).
No doubt, more information will trickle down slowly closer to the movie’s Deepavali release. However, Atlee and Vijay might have just cracked the code, when it comes to naming films.
