Captain Miller

• Dhanush as Analeesan “Easa” / Captain Miller
• Shiva Rajkumar as Sengolan alias Senganna
• Sundeep Kishan as Captain Rafiq
• Priyanka Mohan as Velmathi
• Aditi Balan as Princess Shakunthala
• Edward Sonnenblick as General Andrew Wandy
• John Kokken as Prince Jayavardhan
• Nivedhithaa Sathish as Thaenpasiyaar
• Vinoth Kishan
• Alexx O’Nell as Riley
• Elango Kumaravel as Kannaya
• Pintu Pandu as Kaali
• Viji Chandrasekhar as Pechaiamma
• Kaali Venkat as Kumastha Kanagasabai
• “Merku Thodarchi Malai” Antony
• Jayaprakash as King Rajadhipathi
• Bose Venkat
• Abdool Lee as Sembatta / Stephen
• Mark Bennington as General Buller
• Ashwin Kkumar as a diligent soldier
• Arunodhayan as Ayyavu
• Swayam Siddha

Production

Development

In 2018, Arun Matheswaran wrote a script which was to be made by T. G. Thyagarajan’s production company Sathya Jyothi Films. Arun had also shown the script to Dhanush, since he had written the story keeping the actor in mind. However, nothing was finalised and the idea took shape again in 2019. In late October 2020, Arun had met Dhanush and discussed the chances of collaborating on that project. Impressed by the narration of the script, Dhanush showed interest in what Arun had given. The project was to start production after the latter had finished his commitments during that time. In April 2021, Sathya Jyothi Films was supposed to produce the film, which would be Dhanush’s 47th. On 24 December that year, Dhanush confirmed stories about his collaboration with Arun.

The film was tentatively titled D47, being the actor’s 47th film in a leading part. In April 2022, various sources reported that the film was titled Captain Miller and that it would be set in the 1930s. In an interview to the media in late April, Arun admitted that the film was not about the real life LTTE rebel Captain Miller. He further revealed that it is an action-adventure film which would be mounted on a massive budget to cater to a bigger audience and would not have any item songs. The film was officially announced on 2 July that year with Captain Miller being approved as the title. The director gave that title because he was impressed by Tom Hanks’s character from Saving Private Ryan (1998). The project went through a year of extensive pre-production for better detailing. Arun hired G. V. Prakash Kumar for composing the music, who had earlier worked with Dhanush in seven films. Shreyaas Krishna was chosen to handle cinematography. However, he was replaced by Siddhartha Nuni during shooting in mid-January 2023. Nagooran Ramachandran who was chosen for editing, had worked with the director on Rocky (2021) and Saani Kaayidham (2022) earlier.

Casting

Arun started writing the story without any actor in mind. He created the fictional character Captain Miller with the aim of making an action film on a grand scale. It was only halfway through the process that he had felt Dhanush would be perfect for that part. The latter would also sport three looks in the film. In late May 2022, Priyanka Mohan was in talks to play one of the lead actress after Aditi Balan. while Sundeep Kishan was reported to play an important part that September. Both of their inclusion was announced on 19 and 17 September respectively by the production house. Nivedhithaa Sathish, John Kokken and Malayalam actor Sumesh Moor were named as part of the cast the next day. Daniel Balaji, Elango Kumaravel, Viji Chandrasekhar, Swayam Siddha and “Merku Thodarchi Malai” Antony were also cast that month.

In October 2022, Arun met Kannada actor Shiva Rajkumar in Bangalore and narrated the full story of the film in 40 minutes. Shiva felt engaged by his narration and voiced his interest in being part of the film, marking his second Tamil film after Jailer (2023).The production company officially announced his addition on 8 December. On 31 January 2023, there were news of Kaali Venkat being cast in the film. Speaking to DT Next that day, Venkat denied reports saying that they were from unofficial sources. However, he said that he had been in contact with Arun but his job was not confirmed yet. Vijay Kumar was also reported by multiple sources to have been hired, on 24 February. Nevertheless, the next day, a source close to the production team confirmed that he was not. In mid-March, Vinoth Kishan was named as part of the cast. On 22 April, American actor Edward Sonnenblick was announced as part of the cast, making his Tamil debut. In June 2023, Daniel Balaji left the project due to scheduling conflicts, caused by continuous delays to the start of shooting his scenes.

Release

Theatrical

The film was censored by 4 minutes and 36 seconds in order to secure a U/A classification for theatrical release. Eventually, it was released theatrically on 12 January 2024, coinciding with the week of Pongal. It was previously scheduled for 15 December 2023. The film was released in both IMAX and 2D formats.

Distribution

Lyca Productions holds the film’s overseas distribution rights, and KRG Studios for Karnataka.

Home media

The film began streaming on Amazon Prime Video from 9 February 2024 in Tamil and dubbed versions of Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages.