Inji Vellam

The name is finally public. Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions have titled Mani Ratnam’s romance drama Inji Vellam (Ginger Jaggery), revealing it on 7 September 2026 with a first-look motion poster of Vijay Sethupathi and Sai Pallavi. What began as Production No. 23 is no longer anonymous. The film is still being shot. The Kolkata and Puducherry schedules are complete. The unit is now working in Chennai.

The project is produced by Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions, presented by Subaskaran. It remains her first collaboration with Mani Ratnam and a reunion for Vijay Sethupathi after Chekka Chivantha Vaanam. Music is by A.R. Rahman, cinematography by Avik Mukhopadhyay, and editing by Sreekar Prasad. Theatres are aimed at January 2027, in the Pongal window. OTT rights have been bagged by Netflix.

Principal photography began on 23 July 2026 in Kolkata. That opening schedule ran about eleven days. On the night of 25 July, Sai Pallavi and Vijay Sethupathi were filmed near Howrah Bridge. She wore an elegant red gown. The sequence, and the leaks that followed it, became the first public glimpse of the film long before any official still.

The unit then moved to Puducherry for a seven-day schedule. That leg is finished. Shooting is now in progress in Chennai. Plot details and the rest of the cast remain under wraps, as the makers have chosen to speak only through the title, the first look, and the work itself.

During the audio launch of Amaran, Mani Ratnam praised Sai Pallavi’s talent, called himself a “big fan,” and said he hoped to work with her one day. That wish is now a titled film in production: a leading role opposite Vijay Sethupathi, scored by A.R. Rahman, produced by Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions, and headed for a Pongal 2027 theatrical release. It is a clean line from public admiration to shared work, the kind of alignment her career has earned by staying with grounded, exacting storytelling.

Inji Vellam (Ginger Jaggery) is scheduled for a theatrical release in January 2027, with the makers aiming at the Pongal holiday. After its cinema run, the film will stream on Netflix, which has bagged the OTT rights. While this chapter is still being filmed in Chennai, two other releases sit close on the calendar.

OM (also titled Om - Chapter 1: Udhiram: The Blood Wood), written and directed by Rajkumar Periasamy, brings Sai Pallavi together with Dhanush, Mammootty and Sreeleela. It is scheduled for theatrical release on 16 October 2026. Beyond that waits her portrayal of Maa Sita in Ramayana, set for a grand Diwali release. Three very different scales of work, held in the same stretch of months, by the same refusal to dilute the craft.