Tamil filmmaker Mari Selvaraj has officially announced his next film, Manjanathi. The project marks the first-ever collaboration between Mari and legendary composer Ilaiyaraaja.

Following the success of Mari’s Vaazhai, Manjanathi is being produced under the banner Navvi Studios and is presented by Divya Mari Selvaraj. The film is jointly produced by Sushant Prasad of Fortune Entertainment.

The project was announced during Ilaiyaraaja’s ‘From Raaja With Love’ concert in Chennai. Speaking at the concert, Mari said that Manjanathi will narrate the story of the women from his town. “They said you made films about your town’s men. This is about the town’s women,” he said, before reminiscing about how this was his first-ever concert experience. “I never go to his concerts because he would be so far away and I wouldn’t be able to take it. I wanted to be next to him. I worked so hard to make an opportunity for myself, to be next to him in his concert,” he added.

The filmmaker then credited Raaja’s ‘Poradada’ from Alai Osai to have helped him during his most difficult times, stating that it was this soundtrack that motivated him to make five hit films. “While making my previous five films, I always had a feeling as if I was stealing things from everyone, be it acting, music, and victory. But I wanted to make a film with peace, and I’m sure Manjanathi will be one of the biggest films of my career,” added Mari.

Further announcements regarding the cast and technical crew are expected soon.

Meanwhile, Mari is working on a historical film starring Dhanush, produced by Ishari K. Ganesh under Vels Film International. The film features music by A.R. Rahman, marking another collaboration between the composer and Mari after Maamannan (2023). As the historical project requires extensive research and large-scale pre-production work, Manjanathi is being made during the interim period, said an official press release.

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The release further said, “Mari Selvaraj is shaping Manjanathi as an intimate, emotionally resonant, and rooted slice-of-life drama in the spirit of Vaazhai.”

The filmmaker’s most recent work is Bison Kaalamaadan. Starring Dhruv Vikram, the Tamil sports drama, based on the life of India kabaddi player Manathi Ganesh, released on October 17, 2025. Recently, Tamil filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj also announced his collaboration with Ilaiyaraaja. Karthik’s 10th directorial, backed by Guneet Monga under the banner Sikhya Entertainment, will mark Ilaiyaraaja’s 1540th project.

Meanwhile, apart from Manjanathi, From Raaja With Love also saw a slew of other film announcements. While it was recently announced that Karthik Subbaraj is teaming up with the maestro for his next, the filmmaker on Sunday unveiled a teaser that showed the composer’s orchestra performing his hit track ‘How To Name It?’ for the upcoming film.

The event also saw music composer and Raaja’s son, Yuvan Shankar Raja, unveil a grand new teaser of an upcoming film called Raja’s Playlist. With Sudha Kongara as the creative producer, the film has music by Yuvan and a story written by Venkat Prabhu. From the teaser, it seems to be a romantic sci-fi film in which the protagonist traverses across timelines through Raaja’s songs.