Actor Atharvaa Murali’s film Thanal is all set to hit screens on September 12. Directed by Ravindra Madhava, the film sees the actor fight against Ashwin Kakumanu’s character.
Interestingly, this is the first time Ashwin Kakumanu is playing the role of an antagonist in his film career. Ahead of the film’s release, Ashwin Kakumanu has shared his experience of playing the role in the film.
Ashwin Kakuman On Playing Negative Role In Thanal: I Play A Layered Broken Man Looking To…
Taking to his Instagram page, Ashwin Kakumanu said he was looking to play a role like this after playing several roles as ‘a nice guy’. He wrote “Since #Thanal releases tomorrow, September 12th 2025 I just thought I would post some BTS over the next few days and talk about how I came into the film.” He went on to call Rajinikanth, Ajith, Hans Gruber, Hannibal Lecter, The Joker and Darth Vader his inspirations for playing roles with negative shades.
He wrote “I love bad guys in the movies. Rajni sir in his villain avatar, Ajith sir in Vaali and Mankatha, Raghuvaran sir and of course iconic characters like Hans gruber (Die Hard) , Hannibal Lecter, The Joker, and Darth Vader. All different shades of arrogance, style, intelligence, and evil. I had been looking to play an intense antagonist for a while, but couldn’t find the right combination of things I was looking for in the character, grit, intellect, cunning, and ruthless aggression. I wanted to do it all the more after playing very nice guy roles. On top of that I found it difficult when directors judged me by my looks and I had fallen into a stereotype in their head.” He went on to thank the director Ravindra Madhava for seeing his photo from Ponniyin Selvan, and offering the role of antagonist to him.
“I took the first photo around Ponniyin Selvan and based on that image director Ravindra Madhava contacted me for his antagonist, a layered broken man looking to unleash his anger. Sometimes all it takes is one photo to inspire a director for their character.”
In a press meet he called Thanal as one of his most ambitious projects. He said “Thanal is one of the ambitious projects I had been waiting to release. Finally, to witness the heartwarming reception from the press and media fraternity makes me truly happy. I also thank Atharvaa Murali for being a wonderful co-star. It has been a collaborative experience working with a actor like him, who constantly encouraged and complimented my performance throughout the shoot.”
Thanal is produced by M. John Peter of Annai Film Production. Lavanya Tripathi plays the female lead, with Sha Ra in a pivotal role. The film features music by Justin Prabhakaran, cinematography by Sakthi Saravanan, editing by Kalaivannan R, lyrics by Karthik Netha, choreography by Hari Kiran.