Filmmakers Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan of Qube Cinemas, who have teamed up to present Navarasa, a nine-part anthology, had announced earlier that the entire income generated from the venture will be given to Tamil film industry workers who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, the makers revealed that the team has started distributing prepaid cards to the workers.

Each beneficiary will receive Rs 1,500 per month on the prepaid card for a period of five months, which can be utilised at grocery outlets. The cards will be distributed by Bhoomika Trust and the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI). FEFSI has been working along with Bhoomika Trust for six months to identify the beneficiaries of the initiative.

Speaking to TNM, Jayendra said, “The initiative is to distribute aid to 10,500 FEFSI members and 1,000 theatre projectionists. It’s an industry initiative. Directors, artistes, technicians, companies and individuals in the industry have come together to make this a reality. Mani and I are just the catalysts.”

Navarasa will premiere on the OTT platform Netflix. The web series, based on the Indian concept of the nine human emotions – love, courage, compassion, wonder, laughter, fear, disgust, anger and tranquillity – is likely to consist of nine stories based on each emotion. Actor Arvind Swami (in his directorial debut), Gautam Vasudev Menon, Karthick Naren, Bejoy Nambiar, Karthik Subbaraj, Ponram, KV Anand, Halitha Shameem and Rathindran R Prasad will each direct one episode in the anthology. It was earlier confirmed that the directors will not be taking any remuneration for the project.

Navarasa will star popular actors such as Suriya, Revathi, Nithya Menen, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Aishwarya Rajesh, Arvind Swami, Suriya, Siddharth, Vijay Sethupathi, Prakash Raj, Prasanna, Gautham Karthik, Ashok Selvan, Poorna, Riythvika, Robo Shankar, Ramesh Thilak and Sananth in the lead roles. The venture has music by AR Rahman, D Imman, Ghibran, Arul Dev, Karthik, Ron Ethan, Govind Vasantha and Justin Prabhakaran.

Notable cinematographers such as PC Sreeram, Santosh Sivan, Balasubramaniem, Manoj Paramahamsa, Abinandhan Ramanujam, Shreyaas Krishna, Harshvir Oberai, Sujith Sarang, V Babu and Viraj Singh are on board for the project. Navarasa will have four popular writers, including Pattukottai Prabhakar, Selvaa, Madhan Karky and Someetharan.

With an ensemble cast, notable filmmakers, award-winning music directors, popular cinematographer and writers, Navarasa stands apart from other anthology movies and series. Fans eagerly await the release of the web series.