With the rise of the social media generation, what has become crystal clear is that even elevator pitches are too long to make an impression. Throughout the marketing for a film, the audience ruthlessly judge the film and its elements without the full context. But even a generation that seeks something new everyday, still sticks to some old adages, including that 'the first impression is the best impression', and judges a film based on everything, including its title. Film titles have moved on from being descriptive of its stories or its characters, to being metaphorical, or to put it simply, "based on vibes". The upcoming film Pookie, also carries a title that that this young generation uses based on its subjects 'vibes'. Pookie, is directed by debutant Ganesh Chandhrra, and is written by Puthiya Parithi. "While brainstorming ideas for a title, this one hit me like bolt out of the blue," says Parithi, who recalls that, "Ganesh's immediate response was, 'I like it. What is it?'"
While the origins of the word, pookie, have differing accounts, the word was popularised by social media and found its way into Gen Z's vernacular. "Ganesh and I had to ask around to check if the title would fit, and we found out that beyond Gen Z, the majority did not understand the term," says the writer. The upcoming rom-com, which is set to open in theatres on February 13, stars Ajay Dishan and RK Dhanusha in the lead, with Vijay Antony backing the film. "Initially, even Vijay Antony sir was less enthusiastic about the film having such a title. But being a person who has continuously backed creators, he bought the rights to it anyway," recalls Parithi. "He understood the impact of the title when the team behind another rom-com called him up asking for the rights. After that, he became much more confident with the title," says Parithi.
Apart from being the producer, Vijay Antony has also composed music for the film, along with writing lyrics for the soundtrack. "There are ten songs in the film, and eight of them have lyrics written by Vijay Antony," reveals Ajay excitedly. While Tamil cinema is no stranger to a film with an extensive soundtrack, very rarely does a creator choose to break away from the film's narrative to give way to ten songs. "Wanting this film to be a musical, I identified a lot of points in the script where a song would work. But it wouldn't be feasible to create and shoot that many numbers, so in the end, only five points in the script were allocated for songs. But that changed when Vijay Antony sir came on board as a composer," reveals Parithi, adding, "He had composed for a series of intense films, so when the time came for working on Pookie, he went into a flow state and enjoyed composing without a break."
The zeal for delivering beyond basic expectations doesn't end with Vijay Antony. Admittedly, his nephew and Pookie's lead, Ajay Dishan, admits that the physical exertion that Pookie demanded was great. "There are scenes in a gym where I had to do 30 reps of dumbbell workouts in the scenes, and I ended up doing close to 500 of them. I had to shoot scenes where I had to smoke cigarettes, which had herbal plants inside them. But even with the lack of tobacco, I came close to fainting in the middle of the shoot," shares Ajay.
Pookie, which is Ajay's sophomore project, is a stark contrast to his debut in the crime procedural, Maargan (2025). But, the actor says, "Even with a lighter tone, the goal of the film is to make the audience think about their actions during a relationship, especially when a breakup happens." Actor RK Dhanusha explains, "Girls get a lot of unsolicited DMs and get comments while walking on the streets. The behaviour of men doesn't get better when it comes to a breakup. So, the film showcases what not to do during a breakup." Summarising the film to a uniquely succinct statement, Ajay signs off by saying, "Pookie is a bible on how to handle breakups."