Basil drives this campus story in his Tamil debut titled 'Raawadi'

Sirai fame LK Akshay Kumar and Basil Joseph have teamed up for the comedy entertainer Raawadi , helmed by debutant Vignesh Vadivel. This will be Basil’s first full-length role in Tamil. Explaining the film’s plotline, the filmmaker states, “Basil plays the role of a college alumnus who returns to the campus to settle an issue created by him.”

Akshay, along with Jaffer Sadiq, Nobel James and Arunachaleswaran PA, play students who get caught up in that issue. “In the film, no one knows what Basil’s background is. So, even if he speaks Malayalammixed Tamil, it wouldn’t be an issue,” says Vignesh, and adds, “He came well-prepared. Before the shoot, I shared the dialogues with him, both with and without modulation, so he could become familiar with pronunciation.”

The director is also all praise for Akshay. “He is extremely involved. Sirai was in a dark zone, but his role here will be a complete contrast. His character is the one who holds the college gang together,” he shares.

Dude fame Aishwarya Sharma appears in a small role. With the successes of campus-based films like With Love and Youth , Vignesh is happy to see Tamil cinema making space for younger actors and stories. “Till now, people were writing stories for 30+ heroes because there were no young heroes. Therefore, there were no campus-based movies. But this trend has led assistant directors to write stories for young actors. For Ken, no production house was ready to invest in a school-based movie because they needed a star who would be able to bring in the pre-release business. But that mindset will change now.”



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