For Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham, movies have always been more than just a weekend escape. His love for cinema and his unabashed admiration for superstar Rajinikanth is well known.

Even Freshworks employees in Chennai have often spoken about movie tickets being distributed to teams during new releases, a perk that reflected their boss’ passion for the big screen.

Now, Girish is taking that passion beyond the audience seat and into the producer’s chair. He is now all set to produce filmmaker Pa. Ranjith’s Sarpatta Parambarai 2 (Second Round), the sequel to the 2021 boxing drama. This sports action film was then released directly on Amazon Prime Video in 2021. The theatrical release was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two sources who spoke to The Hindu said actor Arya (Jamshad Cethirakath), a close friend of Mr. Mathrubootham, was instrumental in bringing him on board for the project. Actor Arya took to social media platform X and said: “The origin of Sarpatta Parambarai begins.” He tagged Mr. Ranjith and Mr. Mathrubootham in his tweet.

Those who know Mr. Mathrubootham closely say that he would never miss a Rajinikanth film and is deeply passionate about cinema. And when Freshworks filed for its initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq, Mr. Mathrubootham even code-named the financial filing “Project SuperStar”.

A former colleague recalled that Mr. Mathrubootham would regularly book first-day, first-show tickets for his teammates. “When I say teammates, I’m talking about several hundreds of tickets. This is something he followed regularly,” the colleague noted.