A new character video from Jailer 2 is doing the rounds, and it's all SJ Suryah stepping out of a car looking every bit the mass entry he's known for. In the clip, he plays a character called Bodhi Kalpak, dressed casual but styled to the hilt, the kind of introduction Tamil cinema loves to slow down for.

This is Suryah's first film with Rajinikanth, and that alone has fans watching closely. He comes into Jailer 2 straight off Sardaar 2, where he played the villain opposite a PS Mithran script that got a lukewarm response. His performance, though, didn't get lost in that. It was being called his most substantial role since Mark Antony, and by most accounts he made the most of it.

Suryah's acting run has been busy for a while now. He's the rare Kollywood name who built a directing reputation first, with Vaali, Kushi, New, Anbe Aaruyire and Isai across genres, before easing back into acting almost full time. Anbe Aaruyire and Isai didn't do business at the box office but picked up a reputation as unconventional attempts that critics warmed to. Somewhere along the way, though, he stopped chasing the director's chair and let the actor take over. He's had hits since, and has more releases lined up.

But he hasn't walked away from directing for good. Suryah is currently helming a film titled Killer, reportedly a thriller, and AR Rahman is on board to score it. It's been a decade since Isai, his last outing behind the camera, back in 2015. Fans have apparently been asking him to return to direction even while he kept acting, and Killer looks like the answer to that.

For now, the spotlight is on Jailer 2. The character video hasn't given away much beyond the look and the name Bodhi Kalpak, and there's no word yet on how big a part this is in the film's plot. Expectations are already high simply because of the Rajinikanth pairing, a first for Suryah after years in the industry on both sides of the camera.

Jailer 2 hasn't had a release date confirmed in this round of reporting, and neither has Killer. What's clear is that Suryah is juggling both right now, an actor's role that fans think could be one of his biggest yet, and a director's comeback project with one of Indian cinema's biggest composers attached. Whichever lands first, it's going to be watched closely.