Thala Ajith, Ilayathalapathy Vijay to resume work after Kollywood strike

Kollywood stars are getting back to work after close to a 50-day break due to the strike. Ajith, Vijay, and many others will start shooting for their forthcoming movies in the days to come.

Suriya's NGK was the first big movie to commence the shooting after the strike was called off on April 17. Now, Dhanush, whose three movies – Maari 2, Enai Nokki Paayum Thotta and Vada Chennai — were affected due to the bandh, has started working on Maari 2 from Monday, April 23, at Billy Mills and Sai Pallavi is also reportedly shooting her portions.

Ilayathalapathy Vijay will begin shooting for his next flick with AR Murugadoss from April 25. The portions involving the actor and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar will be shot on the latest schedule. It may be recalled that the film unit stirred a controversy for getting special permission to shoot during the Kollywood strike.

On the other hand, the makers of Ajith's Viswasam are relieved as the team is finally ready to start regular shooting from May 4. A massive set resembling North Chennai has been erected at the Ramoji Film City.

Apart from these movies, shooting and post-production works of many other projects have also started.

Kollywood went on an indefinite strike after Tamil Nadu Producers Council (TFPC) called for it on March 1 with the support of other south Indian film industry players over virtual print fee charged by the Digital Service Providers (DSP).

The producers' guild used the strike to address other issues that the industry is facing and wanted to bring changes in the operations that include computerizing the ticket sales in the state. After the state government's intervention, the VFX companies agreed to slash their existing rates for a certain period while the government met a couple of demands raised by the TFPC.

No Tamil movie was released during the strike period.