Referred to as AK63 prior to the announcement, as it is Ajith's 63rd film as lead actor, which was in March 2024 and also revealed the official title. Principal photography commenced the following May in Hyderabad along with a sporadic schedule in Spain, and wrapped by early December. The film has music composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, cinematography handled by Abinadhan Ramanujam and editing by Vijay Velukutty.
Good Bad Ugly is scheduled to release theatrically on 10 April 2025.
While filming for Nerkonda Paarvai in early 2019, Adhik Ravichandran had met and narrated a script to Ajith Kumar, who agreed to act in the film but wanted to wait until the producers were finalised before making an announcement.[4] In the meantime, Ajith worked on Valimai (2022) and Thunivu (2023), while Adhik finished Bagheera and Mark Antony (both 2023).[5][6] In October 2023, Suresh Chandra, the actor's manager, confirmed that discussions were going on for Adhik to direct Ajith's 63rd film.[7] That November, he confirmed the project, tentatively titledAK63.[8] The project was funded by Naveen Yerneni and Y. Ravi Shankar's Mythri Movie Makers, marking their first Tamil venture. The company made a public announcement on 14 March 2024, with the official title Good Bad Ugly, a reference to the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).[9]
The film was made on a reported production budget of upto ₹270 crore (US$31million), and Ajith was reported to receive ₹165 crore (US$19million) as his remuneration.[1][10] Originally planned to be shot in the Tamil language only, Adhik stated that they considered shooting significant portions of the film in Telugu as well.[11] The technical crew includes cinematographer Abinandhan Ramanujam, editor Vijay Velukutty, costume designer Anu Vardhan, and stunt choreographers Supreme Sundar and Kaldian Vodenchardy.[5] Adhik co-wrote the film's script along with Ravi Kandasamy and Harish Manikandan.[12]
Casting
Ajith reportedly lost kilograms of weight for his character and would sport two different looks.[13][14]Trisha Krishnan was cast as the lead female, collaborating opposite Ajith for the sixth time following Ji (2005), Kireedam (2007), Mankatha (2011), Yennai Arindhaal (2015) and Vidaamuyarchi(2025).[15]Sunil was cast in an important role, collaborating with Adhik for the second time after Mark Antony,[16] whilst Rahul Dev was also cast in an important role, after having previously acted with Ajith in Vedalam (2015).[17] In early October, Prasanna announced his participation.[18] Later the same month, Arjun Das did the same.[19]Prabhu and Yogi Babu were present during the film's preliminary shooting, confirming their presence in the film.[20][21] In late January 2025, Shine Tom Chacko announced he was part of the cast.[22]
Filming
Principal photography was initially scheduled to begin in June 2024.[23] However, due to the filming schedule of Vidaamuyarchi in late May was scheduled in the United Arab Emirates,[24] the first schedule instead began on 9 May in Hyderabad.[25] A fight sequence, choreographed by Supreme Sundar, was filmed at first, according to reports.[26] The schedule was completed within a month on 9 June.[27] Although initial plans were to go to South America for the second schedule,[28] it took place in Spain instead. During this schedule, however, photos and videos of Ajith were leaked to the social media platforms.[29] In late-November, production moved to the United Kingdom as a part of the major schedule.[30] Filming wrapped in mid-December.[31]
Post-production
On 29 December 2024, Ajith completed dubbing for his portions.[32]
Good Bad Ugly is expected to premiere on 9 April 2025,[35] and release theatrically on 10 April 2025.[36] It was previously scheduled to release on 10 January 2025, coinciding with the occasion of Pongal.[37] Apart from the original Tamil language, it is also scheduled to release in the Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam languages.[11]
After the producers of Vidaamuyarchi announced in November 2024 that their film would release during the Pongal weekend,[38] the release of Good Bad Ugly was facing uncertainty as Naveen Yerneni did not confirm or deny any new release window.[39] In December, Adhik confirmed that the film was postponed; however, the makers of Vidaamuyarchi also announced that their film was also postponed, leading to none of the films being released on the occasion,[40] with the April 2025 release window for Good Bad Ugly being announced in early January.[36]
Distribution
Romeo Pictures bought the distribution rights of the film in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.[41] Prathyangira Cinemas acquired the distribution rights for the United States.[42]
Home media
The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film were purchased by Netflix for ₹95 crore.[43]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
