Not Sivakarthikeyan, This Actor Was Durai Senthilkumar's First Choice For Ethir Neechal

Director RS Durai Senthilkumar has currently dominated the spotlight for his recently released film Garudan. In one of the promotional events of this film, he revealed that one of his earlier films Ethir Neechal was initially meant for Dhanush. He said that once, the 40-year-old actor asked Vetrimaaran the names of some talented filmmakers who can create compelling scripts. At that time, the Viduthalai: Part 1 director already knew about Durai Senthilkumar’s Ethir Neechal storyline.

He put Durai Senthilkumar in touch with Dhanush and Sivakarthikeyan was roped in as the hero. It is noteworthy that the Captain Miller actor produced the 2013 film Ethir Neechal. Besides Sivakarthikeyan, the film had an ensemble cast of actors Priya Anand, Nandita Shwetha, Sharath Lohitashwa and others.

Durai Senthilkumar’s latest box-office outing Garudan has garnered accolades from both critics and audience. According to the reviewers, the intriguing plot of this project keeps the suspense alive at every point. However, some pointed out that the storyline is weak with fewer impactful moments.

Durai Senthilkumar is always keen to learn about the changing trends of Tamil cinema and talked about it in an interview with the OTT Play. He said, “My last film was released in 2020 with Dhanush sir. After that, I used my break to understand the changes in the mindset of Tamil cinema, the dos and don’ts, unlearning from the previous films. After all this and post the OTT bloom, as a filmmaker I see the audiences are tuned to watch a film as per the genre. OTT platforms also offer them in such a way.”

The Garudan director had initially started as an assistant director to Balu Mahendra and Vetrimaaran. He then made his directorial debut with Ethir Neechal which was released on May 1, 2013, to critical acclaim from critics. Durai Senthilkumar was awarded the Vijay Award for Best Crew in 2014 for this film.

Some of his other prominent films include Pattas and Kodi. He was nominated for the South Indian International Movie Awards under the best director category for Pattas.