Seven years is a long time to sit on a finished film. Sandakari, starring Vemal and Shriya Saran, was shot in 2019 and originally meant for a 2020 release. It's taken until September 18, 2026, for it to actually reach a cinema screen, and it arrives carrying a controversy most films never have to explain away.

Earlier this year, Sandakari won three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for 2020, Best Film (Third Prize) among them, despite the fact that nobody outside a jury room had actually watched it. Amrish picked up Best Male Playback Singer for his work on the soundtrack, and Iyyappan won Best Art Director. The wins triggered an obvious question on social media: how does an unreleased film qualify for a state award meant to honour films the public has seen?

That question never really got answered in public, at least not one that's been widely reported. What's changed instead is the film simply has a release date now, which is its own kind of answer. Boss Production Corporation, the producing banner, has set the film for a Friday release, and R. Madhesh, who directed it, finally gets to see his 2019 shoot reach an audience.

Sandakari is a remake of the 2012 Malayalam hit My Boss, and it leans on a fairly stacked supporting cast alongside its leads. Prabhu and Sathyan feature prominently, with K. R. Vijaya, Rekha, Dev Gill, Uma Padmanabhan, Punnagai Poo Gheetha, Crane Manohar and Mahanadhi Shankar rounding out the ensemble. R. B. Gurudev shot the film, Dinesh Ponraj cut it, and Amrish, the award-winning singer, also composed the score.

What happens to a film that's been sitting in a can since before the pandemic is anyone's guess at this point. Tamil audiences in 2026 are a different crowd from the one Madhesh was shooting for in 2019, and My Boss itself is now well over a decade old as source material, so the comedy's shelf life is a fair question. The award controversy hasn't gone away either. A state prize won before public release is an awkward thing to defend, and Sandakari's actual theatrical run will be the first real chance for audiences to judge whether that Best Film citation holds up against what's on screen.

For Shriya Saran, this is one more addition to a career that's had its share of delayed and shelved projects finally see daylight. For Vemal, it's a rare lead outing getting a release after years in the wings. Whether either of them shows up for the promotional rounds, or whether Sandakari quietly slips into theatres and out again, is the next thing to watch for as September 18 approaches.