Mani Ratnam's Kaatru Veliyidai gets a U certificate, release date locked

Maverick director Mani Ratnam’s intense romantic drama Kaatru Veliyidai has been cleared by the censor board with a ‘U’ certificate.

The film’s hero Karthi took to his Twitter page to confirm the release date, he wrote “And it’s finalised, #KaatruVeliyidai #Cheliyaa#AManiratnamfilm Releasing on April 7th. @arrahman @aditiraohydari (sic)”.

The film is also being dubbed in Telugu as Cheliyaa and famous producer ‘Dil’ Raju has bought the distribution rights in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana. Touted to be the costliest film in Mani Ratnam’s career, Kaatru Veliyidai was shot in exotic locales including Kashmir, Serbia, Ootty and Coonoor.

Karthi plays the role of a fighter pilot in Kaatru Veliyidai, while his romantic interest Aditi Rao Hydari plays a doctor. How the couple’s profession comes as a huge obstacle for their possessive relationship is said to be the basic plot of the film. Academy Award-winning composer AR Rahman has scored the music and Ravi Varman of Barfi fame has cranked the camera.

After the release of Kaatru Veliyidai, Mani Ratnam is planning to make a Tamil-Telugu bilingual with Ram Charan and Arvind Swamy.