Rajinikanth's much-anticipated Thalaivar 173 has been officially titled Dharman, with Ashwath Marimuthu confirmed as director at a grand title launch event in Chennai. The first look poster, presented by Kamal Haasan's RKFI, shows Rajinikanth in a sleek avatar dressed as a doctor, wielding surgical equipment as a weapon — with the tagline "The Deadly Doctor."

The film stars Simran as the female lead, reuniting her with Rajinikanth after Petta and with Kamal Haasan after over two decades. Raashii Khanna is also part of the cast, with Mysskin's involvement still unconfirmed despite strong speculation.

The project went through considerable turbulence before arriving at this point. Sundar C was the original director, followed by Don filmmaker Cibi Chakravarthi, before Ashwath Marimuthu's name emerged through industry circles and was finally confirmed today. Dharman goes on floors on June 25.

On the technical front, Anirudh composes the music, Niketh Bommi handles cinematography, Pradeep E Ragav edits, and stunt duo Anbariv choreograph the action sequences.

Ashwath also has STR 51 with Silambarasan in the pipeline, though that project will now take a back seat to Dharman.