CHENNAI: Producer S R Prabhu has now confirmed that shooting for director Lokesh Kanakaraj's eagerly awaited action drama 'Kaithi 2', featuring actor Karthi in the lead, would begin by the end of the year.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of an event, producer S R Prabhu, whose production house is producing the upcoming film, said, "Work on 'Kaithi 2' has already begun. In fact, preparations for the shooting of 'Kaithi 2' began a month ago. Shooting will begin by the end of the year. Actor Karthi will begin shooting for his film with director Tamizh, best known for having directed the critically acclaimed cop drama Taanakaran, from next month. Once, Karthi is done with that film, he will begin work on 'Kaithi 2'."

The news is bound to thrill fans, who have been eagerly waiting for the sequel to the immensely successful film 'Kaithi' from 2022.

For the unaware, the first film in the franchise, 'Kaithi', went on to emerge a huge success. It may be recalled that director Lokesh Kanagaraj had disclosed that his inspiration for Kaithi, featuring actors Karthi and Naren in the lead, came from the Bruce Willis-starrer 'Die Hard'.

Lokesh had then said that apart from Die Hard, he had also got inspired by a newsreport he had read. "My assistant directors and I were discussing a news report that had appeared in a newspaper when I got the spark for the story," the director had said.

One of the important factors that made Kaithi stand out was that it did not have any female leads.

The first instalment's story revolved around an individual who returns from prison after serving a sentence. The story takes place in a single night. The film was an action-packed thriller, with Karthi playing a lorry driver in the film.