In 2022, when Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Kamal Haasan-starrer Vikram hit screens, fans were thrilled to see Suriya introduced as a major antagonist in the filmmaker’s cinematic universe, LCU, as Rolex. Despite Lokesh promising a stand-alone Rolex film, it is yet to materialise four years later. While promoting his upcoming film Scene, which releases in theatres on November 6 for Diwali, Suriya publicly asked Lokesh to get in touch with him about it.
Suriya on Rolex standalone movie
At a promotional event for Scene, Suriya smiled when fans kept asking him for an update on Rolex. “Rolex. Yeah, yeah,” he said as they cheered loudly. He added, “We’ll keep talking. There’s a lot of process happening.” Suriya then publicly asked Lokesh to get in touch with him and said, “Please tell Loki to call me. Please ask Loki to come and meet me. (laughs) We will make it happen.” The actor then addressed fans and expressed interest in playing a villain soon. “So, playing a hero or playing a villain, which is better? Villain is better? Too many heroes have happened. One villain? Okay, we’ll do it,” said Suriya.
Through Vikram, Rolex is teased as the kingpin of a smuggling syndicate. It’s only towards the end of the film that he’s revealed to be played by Suriya. The film ends with his character being told of Dilli’s involvement in the Trichy ambush, a callback to his brother Karthi’s role in the 2019 hit Kaithi. He’s also told it’s unclear if Kamal’s Vikram is dead or alive, unaware that he’s standing among them. The film ends with Rolex announcing a bounty on Vikram and Dilli, and Kamal’s titular character walking away after learning this information.
Future of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe
Lokesh kicked off the LCU in 2019 with Karthi’s Kaithi and followed it up with Vikram in 2022. His third film in the universe was Leo, starring Vijay, in 2023. While the first two films received good reviews, the third was a mixed bag, though the highest-grossing film in the universe. The next film in the LCU will be Benz. Bakkiyaraj Kannan took over directing duties from Lokesh for it. The film, announced in 2024, stars Raghava Lawrence, Samyuktha, Nivin Pauly and Ravi Mohan. Lokesh is producing it.
Lokesh has also announced Kaithi 2, Vikram 2 and a short film named Chapter Zero. None of them has materialised yet. In August, Nivin spoke about the constant postponement of Benz on Rekha Menon’s YouTube channel and said he’s been stuck looking like his character from the film for a while now. He said, “I can’t change my look due to my commitment to Benz, the Tamil film. There was a proper agreement for it that I had to maintain my appearance. We began shooting for it last year, and it keeps getting postponed.” Much like Suriya, he also made a public appeal, asking the makers to take a decision and complete the film.
Lokesh is currently busy with AA 23 starring Allu Arjun. He has yet to provide updates on that film too as the Telugu star is shooting Raaka with Atlee.
