Udhayam NH4 is a special movie for director Mani Maran who was a childhood classmate of director Vetrimaaran. However, when he was asked to direct the film written by his good friend, he claimed he was nervous about living up to Vetrimaaran’s expectations. But he was happy to find that his friend gave him all liberty to do as he envisioned. Vetrimaaran has co-produced the film under his Grassroots Film Company banner along with Cloud Nine and taken up the mantle of creative producer.
Apparently, the film is a thriller and travel adventure and the story takes place on the Chennai – Bengaluru highway and in Bengaluru. Says Mani Maran, “It’s the story of four boys who are engineering students. They travel to Bengaluru where the hero falls in love with a local girl played by Ashritha Shetty.
What happens thereafter is the story.” The hero is Siddharth while newbies Ajai, Kalai and Karthi play his three friends. Kay Kay Menon from Bollywood plays an Assistant Commissioner of Police while Avinash, an actor from Bengaluru and Naren, make up the cast.
Gana Bala, Vaali, Na Muthukumar, Kapilan and newbie Rajkumar have penned the five songs in the movie. The audio of the film was recently launched by the team.
The shooting of the film took place for 20 days in Chennai after which the unit moved to Bengaluru for a 45-day shoot. While Vetrimaaran has penned the story and dialogues, Manimaran has done the direction and screenplay. Velraj has handled the camera while Dilip Subrayan has done the stunts.
Important car and bike chases have been shot by Velraj on the highway. Given Siddharth’s large fan base in Andhra, the film will be having a simultaneous release in Telugu with the title, NH4 Bengaluru to Chennai.