Director Gnanaraja Sekharan is wielding the megaphone for the movie Periyar. Earlier he did a movie titled Bharathi. That movie was also a biography which focused on the life of the Tamil poet Bharathi.

When asked about his motive behind directing such movies, he said “now-a-days it has become the trend to throw the hero in bad light as an anti-hero and gangster. The hero should idealistically be a role model to others. So I choose these real characters. I have spent nearly 4 years to prepare the script of this movie. I have planned to depict the life of Periyar within 2 hours and 40 minutes. Sathyaraj is donning the role of Periyar. I have tried to spot out the incidents unknown to many that happened in the life of Periyar”.

 “To play the role of Periyar was my dream”, says Sathyaraj. Periyar’s wife Maniammai’s part is played by Khushbhu. Jyothirmayi plays the role of Nagammai. The cast of this movie includes, Manorama, Nizhalgal Ravi and Chandra Sekhar.

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has sanctioned 95 Lakh rupees for the movie Periyar on behalf of the Tamil Nadu state government. Producers of the movie Sami Durai and Rasarathinam received the cheque from the Chief Minister on 4th August, 2006 at a function where all DMK ministers, director Gana Sekhar, Rama Chandran and other dignitaries were present. It is to be noted that Sathyaraj has received the Periyar award for this movie. 

 This movie is expected to hit the theatres by the end of February.