'Priya was elated when we approached her for Pichaikkaran's sequel'

There was news doing the rounds that Baaram fame Priya Krishnaswamy would helm Vijay Antony-starrer Pichaikkaran 2. On Thursday evening, the latter confirmed it by officially announcing it through his social media account. The musician-turned-actor says it was the unavailability of Sasi for more than a year which led him to think about another director for the sequel of Pichaikkaran.He says, “I wanted Sasi sir to helm the sequel, too. But he has a project with Harish Kalyan and one film with Vijay Sethupathi is also in the pipeline. As I was keen to release Pichaikkaran 2 in 2021, I thought of going ahead with another filmmaker. Having said that, Priya coming on board for the project was quite coincidental. I was impressed with Baaram – I called her up to congratulate her after watching the film. After a few days, I felt it would be good if she wielded the megaphone for my movie. As she is an editor, too, I was impressed with her technical knowledge and clarity she had about filmmaking.”Vijay says Priya was happy when she approached her. “It was unexpected for her. She had watched Pichaikkaran and agreed to do it. We wanted someone who is good with Telugu also. I felt Priya was the right choice as her mother tongue is Telugu. This will be my biggest project in terms of budget. The script is almost completed and I am working on the dialogues now,” he adds.