Idhayam Murali

Idhayam Murali is a 2026 Indian Tamil-language coming-of-age romantic drama film directed, co-written and made by Aakash Baskaran under Dawn Pictures. The film stars Atharvaa in titular role alongside Preity Mukhundhan, Kayadu Lohar, Malavika Mohanan, Natty Subramaniam, Thaman S, Rakshan, Dravid Selvam, Sudhakar and Niharika NM, with Fahadh Faasil in an extended cameo appearance. It is the directorial debut of Aakash and also marks Thaman's return to acting after 22 years. The film was titled Idhayam Murali so as to honour Atharvaa's father Murali since he also has acted in the one sided love film Idhayam (1991).

Overview§

Idhayam Murali (lit. 'Heart Murali') is a 2026 Indian Tamil-language coming-of-age romantic drama film directed, co-written and made by Aakash Baskaran under Dawn Pictures. The film stars Atharvaa in titular role alongside Preity Mukhundhan, Kayadu Lohar, Malavika Mohanan, Natty Subramaniam, Thaman S, Rakshan, Dravid Selvam, Sudhakar and Niharika NM, with Fahadh Faasil in an extended cameo appearance. It is the directorial debut of Aakash and also marks Thaman's return to acting after 22 years. The film was titled Idhayam Murali so as to honour Atharvaa's father Murali since he also has acted in the one sided love film Idhayam (1991). The film was officially announced in February 2025. Principal photography commenced the previous May. The film has music composed by Thaman, cinematography handled by Manoj Paramahamsa and CH Sai and editing by Pradeep E. Ragav. Idhayam Murali was released in theatres on 10 July 2026 and gained mixed to positive reviews from critics and audiences. Critics praised its music, cast performances, nostalgic atmosphere, visuals, themes, and humor, but criticized its action sequences, familiarity, length, and predictability.

Plot§

The film opens the night before a big wedding, where everyone is dancing and having fun. A married couple expresses their concern that the groom has still not arrived, to which a middle-aged man assures them that he will be at the wedding hall the very next morning. In New York City, on a bright and colorful morning, a group of friends are lazily sleeping on a couple of couches in a sizeable house. As the phone keeps ringing and one of the friends picks it up, the same middle-aged man from the wedding frustratedly pleads everyone to arrive. The friends all get up and look around the house for a young man named Idhaya, only to open the door to a bedroom and see that he is tying his shoes, ready to leave. Idhaya and his friends quickly hop on the next flight to India, where Idhaya accidentally switches phones with a charismatic stranger and begins narrating his life story to him: The year is 1998 and Idhaya, along with his two best friends Dravid and Prabhu, are children studying in primary school. Dravid and Prabhu's habit of playing jokes on Idhaya, such as telling him that kissing leads to pregnancy, causes Idhaya to unknowingly feel responsible for when his favorite teacher, Geetha Miss, becomes pregnant. Over the course of her pregnancy, Idhaya develops a crush for her, eventually leading to him and his friends rushing her to the hospital to have her baby. Idhaya leaves without telling Geetha anything, marking his first one-sided crush. Idhaya's story flashes forward to 2006, where he is now in high school. Dravid and Prabhu jealously note that after school each and every day day, Idhaya gets on the bike of a rugged looking upperclassman named Juju, and after weeks of this repeatedly happening, Idhaya finally tells them that he does this to see Samantha, a girl from Idhaya's tennis class that he has a crush on. Eventually, Idhaya, Juju, Dravid, and Prabhu all join the same after-school tuition center as Sam, and they visit her school for a quick charity donation event, Sam invites all of them to her house for her birthday party. Upon arrival, Idhaya and his friends start to notice that Sam does many things twice, such as giving them juice to drink. When it's time for Sam to cut the cake, Idhaya comes to the painful realization that Samantha has a twin sister named Samyuktha, and that while one of them goes to Idhaya's tuition center, the other goes to his tennis class. Upon learning that the sisters frequently switch places with each other, Idhaya is so heartbroken that he can no longer confess his love to Sam. Feeling guilty and shallow for not knowing which of the sisters he truly loved, Idhaya leaves the party without giving Sam the heartfelt gift he had brought to confess his love to Sam with. Idhaya picks up the next part of his story in 2011, where he is at present a college student. As a brutal fight ensues while multiple households come together to watch the 2011 Cricket World Cup finals on Idhaya's rooftop, Idhaya gets injured and has to go to the hospital. There, he meets Sachin, another one of his, Dravid, and Prabhu's upperclassmen from primary school (who at present works as a doctor in the same hospital Idhaya gets admitted to), Lado, another doctor at the hospital and Sachin's girlfriend, along with Amudha, the doctor that actually operates on an injured Idhaya. Idhaya immediately falls head over heels for Amudha, and after some shenanigans, ends up bonding with her when she comes to spend the night at his house. Idhaya's friends quickly become friends with the doctors and they all spend time with each other, travel together, and enjoy their lives to the fullest. Soon, it becomes time for Amudha to move away to follow her career. The friends all meet up with her one last time at the train station, before she moves away. Not wanting to let go of her the way he did with Sam, Idhaya slowly tries to work up the courage to tell her how he feels, walking up to the train with her, and staying with her even as she boards it. As Idhaya's nervousness and stress continue to build up, he eventually doesn't have the guts to tell Amudha how much he loves her, letting her walk out of his life and sincerely wishing he was more brave. After a short break, Idhaya continues narrating his story to the stranger on the flight: The year is now 2019 and Idhaya's uncle's small business of installing satellites on people's rooftops has now evolved into DTV, a multi-million dollar television channel network. Idhaya is now a formal and mild-mannered CEO, Prabhu is now married to another doctor he met on that fateful day in 2011, and Sachin and Lado have now painfully broken up. Idhaya finds out over a video call with all of the friends that Sachin is around to get married. Wedding preparations go on for a couple weeks, and on the day before the wedding, Idhaya takes a quick flight and meets the bride's uncle, who needs to drive Idhaya over to Madurai for the wedding. After over 12 years, upon getting in the car, Idhaya sees Sam, who is busy with a phone call. When the car stops to quickly pick up a beverage for Idhaya, Sam gets down from the car and they chat. She tells Idhaya that she's at present working as an astronaut at NASA, but the conversation is interrupted by Sachin tasking Idhaya with picking up an angry Lado in his wife's uncle's car, and bringing her over to the wedding. Although some chaos ensues due to Lado's anger at Sachin for dating her for so long yet marrying someone else, Idhaya is able to comfort Lado and Sachin successfully gets married. The night after the wedding, Sam tells Idhaya that upon seeing him, she feels like eating Pani Puri at the shop outside their old tuition center in Trichy, so the two of them quickly drive all the way there from Madurai. After spending some quality time there and getting to know each other all over again, Idhaya and Sam go to their old tuition center and relive fond memories. As Idhaya realizes that he's falling in love with Sam all over again, she tells him that she's hopping on a flight to New York City the very next morning. The next morning, not willing to let Sam go a second time, Idhaya starts frantically running to the airport so he can tell Sam how he feels. Suddenly, bodyguards of a celebrity that DTV aired incriminating information around start to chase Idhaya. As Idhaya, now joined by Dravid and Prabhu, runs farther and farther, he hops aboard a bus to catch his breath, but so do the bodyguards. After a quick fight between Idhaya and the bodyguards, Idhaya finally gets off the bus and makes it to the runway of the airport before running into Juju, who he hasn't seen since his school days, and out of shock, misses Sam's flight without telling her how he truly feels. Idhaya's story flashes forward to 2024, where he, in an attempt to please his uncle, is now engaged to a girl name Adhithi. After a few days, Idhaya suddenly bumps into Amudha at the mall, who is just as shocked to see him again. In a quick chat, Amudha tells Idhaya that she is now happily married with two kids, and drops the bombshell that she used to be in love with him when they were in college. As Amudha leaves the interaction feeling lighter after finally telling Idhaya this, Idhaya realizes that once you let go of a chance to turn your life around, there's no going back. Idhaya gets permission from Adhithi to throw a bachelor party in New York City with all of his friends, which he aims to use as a chance to confess to Sam that he used to be in love with her. Over the next few days, Idhaya turns into his old self; He meets up with Sam at the NASA Space Station, spends quality time with her, and relives old memories, but lies to her that he's still single. One night, when Sam goes to pick up Idhaya for a date and tell him she is in love with him, she finds out around his lies. Sam confronts Idhaya, feeling that he used her as yet another girl that he just wants to have fun with. Idhaya isn't given the chance to explain himself and tell Sam the truth, and as Sam angrily storms off, Idhaya yet again feels that he missed out on what could've been a better life. Idhaya's flight finally lands in India, and he, his friends, and the charismatic stranger he narrated his story to all get off in the present day. Upon arrival at the airport, Idhaya sees that the stranger's wife is none other than Geetha Miss, Idhaya's first crush from primary school. As Idhaya and his friends reach the wedding hall, Idhaya starts to have second thoughts around this marriage. He pulls his uncle aside and asks him around stopping the wedding so Idhaya can pursue a better life with Sam, to which his uncle refuses, stating that this wedding is for Idhaya's own good. Idhaya's friends try to come up with a plan to help their friend by stopping the wedding themselves, but Juju, who is also at the wedding as per Idhaya's request when he reconnected with him, sides with Idhaya's uncle and stops his friends' plan from working out. Suddenly, in a moment that shocks everyone, the stranger from the flight, along with Sam, arrive at the wedding hall. The stranger pulls Idhaya's uncle aside and tells him how much Idhaya truly loves Sam. As Idhaya is around to tie the nuptial thread around Adhithi's neck, Idhaya's uncle gets on the stage and declares that the wedding is officially over, and that Idhaya and Adhithi will not get married anytime soon. As everyone starts to leave the hall, the stranger from the flight hilariously tells a heartbroken Adhithi that he actually brought Samyuktha to the wedding, not Samantha, but since they look identical, Idhaya's uncle believed it was Samantha and stopped the wedding. A few months later, Samantha, who is at present in a spaceship working on a mission, receives a call from her family, Idhaya's friends, and Idhaya. After 20 years, just look Sam in the eye and tell her he loves her, still somewhat angry around the events in New York City, Sam tells everyone that if Idhaya wants to marry her, he has to finally. As Idhaya sits down and begins to work up the courage to tell her, Sam declares that due to certain restrictions and limits that her spaceship has, the video call will end in 40 seconds. As Idhaya's nervousness and tension build up, and the video call gets closer and closer to ending, the film hilariously ends with Idhaya not being able to confess his love for Sam before the end of the video call.

Production§

In late May 2024, it was reported that producer Aakash Baskaran would make his directorial debut with a project starring Atharvaa, Thaman S and Mamitha Baiju in the lead roles. The after December, Atharvaa confirmed the project and also stated that principal photography had already commenced with the shoot of a promotional teaser. The teaser was released on 13 February 2025, announcing the project officially, by Dawn Pictures, with the film named in honour of Atharvaa's father, Murali in the 1991 film Idhayam. Atharvaa completed dubbing his lines in June 2026.

Music§

The soundtrack is composed by Thaman S, in his first collaboration with Atharvaa and Aakash. The first single "Idhayaa" released on 21 March 2025. The second single "Thangame Thangame" released on 28 January 2026. The third single "Vaan Vaan" was released on 13 February 2026.The fourth single "Vaama Vaama" was released on 16 June 2026. The fifth single "Kattazhagi" was released on 1 July 2026.The entire soundtrack album was released on 10 July 2026 after the film's release.

Theatrical§

Idhayam Murali was released in theatres on 10 July 2026. Although director Sudha Kongara appealed to the Madras High Court to stall the film's release over her unpaid dues owed by Dawn Pictures for Parasakthi (2026), the release date was ultimately unaffected. Later after the issues solved, Idhayam Murali got released on the same date on 10 July and gained a good responses from audiences.

Distribution§

Idhayam Murali was distributed by Red Giant Movies in Tamil Nadu. Mythri Movie Makers acquired the film's theatrical rights in the Telugu states (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana). The distribution rights were acquired by Bhavana Release and Future RunUp Films in Kerala. The Karnataka distribution rights were acquired by Swagath Enterprises. Phars Film acquired the overseas theatrical rights. The overseas distribution rights in United Kingdom and Europe were acquired by Boleyn Cinema and Ahimsa Entertainment. The distribution rights in Sri Lanka were acquired by SAS Plaza. The Malaysia distribution rights were acquired by Malik Streams Corporation. The theatrical rights in the Canada were acquired by York Cinemas. The distribution rights in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore were acquired by Home Screen Entertainment. The distribution rights in United States were acquired by Prime Media.

Home Media§

The post-theatrical digital streaming rights were acquired by Netflix.

Reception§

Bhuvanesh Chandar of The Hindu said that "While the film understands the feeling of unrequited love, it never builds the emotional depth needed to make those moments linger. Idhayam's Murali, a poet at heart, had a song do it for him, but Idhayam Murali needed more." Janani K. of the India Today said that "Manoj Paramahamsa's cinematography is one of Idhayam Murali's genuine pleasures. Idhayam Murali is fun when it doesn't take itself seriously. The moment it veers into its story, it exposes its problems rather than playing to its strengths." Prashanth Vallavan of the Cinema Express said that "If Idhayam (1991) was all around showing the pathos of an anxious yearner, Idhayam Murali is a rose-tinted fantasy. Idhayam Murali isn't perfect, but aren't fairytale love stories more around the “happily ever after” than the messy dragon-infested road they took to get there?" Latha Srinivasan of NDTV wrote that it is a "somewhat satisfying romance that thrives on nostalgia, delivering a breezy, feel-good watch even if it doesn't always strike a deep emotional chord".