4 min readHyderabadMay 20, 2026 01:44 PM IST
May has always been Trisha Krishnan’s month in one sense because she was born in it. But May 2026 gave her considerably more than a birthday to remember it by.
Three weeks into the month, she posted behind-the-scenes photographs from Karuppu on Instagram with the caption: “My magical May said, one more for the win. Just God things.”
In the space of 16 days between May 4 and May 20, Trisha had turned 43, watched Vijay take oath as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and her film Karuppu emerge as the biggest Tamil box office event of 2026 within 5 days of release. For most people, one of those things in a single month would be enough. However, Trisha got all three.
Her birthday, Tamil Nadu’s historic day
On May 1, Trisha Krishnan posted on Instagram. The caption was simple, a play on her own name: “May (me) has begun.” Three days later, on May 4, Tamil Nadu woke up to election results that made history. Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, the party formed just two years earlier by actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay, had won the state assembly elections, making Vijay the first leader outside the DMK-AIADMK duopoly to head Tamil Nadu since 1967. Coincidently, it also happened to be Trisha Krishnan’s 43rd birthday.
The collision of those two events on the same day sent the internet into a particular kind of frenzy. Birthday wishes for Trisha arrived tangled up with congratulations for Vijay. Actor Lakshmi Manchu posted on X: “Happy Birthday to the ever gorgeous and graceful Trisha. What a day to celebrate. I guess the universe decided to give you the best birthday gift with that massive victory. Double celebrations for you today.” Several other celebrities made similar observations, folding the two occasions into one, some of those posts were later deleted. Trisha herself was spotted arriving at Vijay’s residence in Chennai that day, her car mobbed by photographers outside his home as the results continued coming in.
Trisha at Vijay’s swearing-in ceremony
What happened on May 4 was the opening act for many things. Six days later, on May 10, Trisha was at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai as Vijay was sworn in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, attending a ceremony that drew over 5,000 guests and marked a moment the state had not seen in nearly six decades.
She sat in the front row, dressed in a turquoise silk saree. When Vijay began his maiden speech, she was seen wiping tears. Before the ceremony, she embraced his mother Shoba Chandrasekhar warmly. When the press caught her on the way in, she offered four words: “Thank you, looking forward.” After the swearing-in, she visited Vijay at his home to congratulate him personally.
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Trisha’s Karuppu that broke records
Five days after the swearing-in, RJ Balaji’s Karuppu, starring Suriya and Trisha Krishnan, was supposed to open in theatres. Financial difficulties at film’s production house, Dream Warrior Pictures, led to the cancellation of all morning and afternoon shows on the original May 14 release date. Director RJ Balaji recorded an emotional video from inside a car, apologising and expressing hope the situation would resolve.
The film eventually opened the following morning, May 15. The audience that had been kept waiting for 24 hours showed up anyway. By the end of opening day, Sacnilk reported Karuppu had collected Rs 15.50 crore net in India. The worldwide gross of Karuppu now stands at Rs 161.04 crore globally, making it 2026’s biggest hit. The film has earned an India net of Rs 96.10 crore.
For Trisha, Karuppu marks her return to the screen opposite Suriya more than two decades after Aaru in 2006. In Karuppu, she plays Preethi, the female lead opposite Suriya’s Saravanan, a lawyer who is the human avatar of the guardian deity Karuppuswamy. The film is a fantasy action drama rooted in Tamil folk mythology, built around the idea of a divine force descending into a broken world to deliver justice.
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