Karathey Babu

Karathey Babu (transl. Karate Babu) is an upcoming Indian Tamil-language political action thriller film directed by Ganesh K. Babu and produced by Screen Scene Media Entertainment. The film stars Ravi Mohan in the titular role, alongside Shakthi Vasudevan, Daudee S Jiwal in her acting debut, Nassar and K.S. Ravikumar.

Karathey Babu
Teaser poster
Directed by	Ganesh K. Babu
Written by	Ganesh K. Babu Rathna Kumar[1] Bakkiyam Sankar
Produced by	Sundar Arumugam
Starring	Ravi Mohan
Cinematography	Ezhil Arasu K.
Edited by	Kathiresh Alagesan
Music by	Sam C. S.
Production company	Screen Scene Media Entertainment
Country	India
Language	Tamil

The film was officially announced in October 2024 under the tentative title #JR34, as it is Ravi's 34th film as the leading actor, and the official title was announced in January 2025. Principal photography commenced in December 2024. The film has music composed by Sam C. S., cinematography handled by Ezhil Arasu K and editing by Kathiresh Alagesan.

It is set to be released on ZEE5.^[2]

Cast

• Ravi Mohan as K. Shanmugam Babu alias "Karathey Babu"
• Shakthi Vasudevan as Boxer Selvaraj^[3]
• Daudee S Jiwal
• Nassar
• K.S. Ravikumar

Production

After the success of Dada in early 2023, director Ganesh K. Babu was signed by Lyca Productions to direct his second directorial venture under their production.^[4][5] Tentatively titled Production No. 3, Jiiva was initially reported to be the leading actor of the film;^[6] however, Dhruv Vikram was reported in early 2024 to be the lead actor.^[7] That July, it was reported that Ganesh would however join hands with Ravi Mohan.^[8] Screen Scene Media Entertainment made a public announcement on 5 October 2024, confirming the project, tentatively titled #JR34. The company would make their third collaboration with the actor after Agilan (2023) and Brother (2024).^[9]

Music

The soundtrack is composed by Sam C. S., in his maiden collaboration with Babu and third with Ravi after Adanga Maru (2018) and Agilan (2023).^[9] Sam replaced the previously announced Harris Jayaraj, who opted out of the film for unknown reasons.