The first single ‘Meherezyla’ from Venkat Prabhu’s upcoming political thriller starring Silambarasan TR and Kalyani Priyadarshan, Maanaadu, was released recently. Following this, many members from team Maanaadu including actor Simbu, director Venkat Prabhu, actor Kalyani Priyadarshan, composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, producer Suresh Kamatchi and actors Premgi and SJ Suryah among others joined a Twitter Spaces interaction that was conducted on Monday to celebrate the launch of the first single. Hosted by film journalist Abishek Raaja, the close to two hours session saw over 11,000 listeners in attendance.
Director Venkat Prabhu, who is well- known for his heist thriller Mankatha, starring Ajith in the lead, said in the Spaces session that this movie is bigger than Mankatha. Maanaadu is a political thriller that is based on the loop genre, a plot device where the characters re-experience a span of time repeatedly. Speaking about the plot, director Venkat Prabhu said, “It has both expected and unexpected elements in store for Tamil audiences. The concept is new in Tamil cinema but at the same time it is in line with our sensibilities and will be easy for the audience to understand.” He also underlined that the faceoff between STR (Silambarasan TR) and SJ Suryah will be appreciated by audiences.
Director Venkat Prabhu took the opportunity to thank Simbu as well as the entire team for supporting the film. The project is in the post-production phase after being in works for years now. “Despite delay, STR, the producer as well as the technicians have stood for the project. The postponement of the project has worked in our favour with respect to a lot of things. The pandemic period gave us an opportunity to re-work some of the things and we are happy that things worked out the way they did,” Venkat noted.
Agreeing with Venkat Prabhu, actor Simbu too mentioned that the delay has turned out to be an advantage. “I am not sure if the output from my end would have been the same. In that sense, the delay in production has helped us.” Explaining the reason behind choosing the project, Simbu said, “I liked the story right from the initial narration and was ready to do it. Apart from the time loop genre and the stature of the project, what attracted me was the fact that the film also talks about how members from a particular religion are treated and it is based on social issues.” Adding that the audiences are very quick with their responses to movies in today’s day and age, he noted how they are open to both criticising as well as praising the movie. “I hope audiences will be able to realise that this is an honest effort and appreciate the movie for that,” Simbu said.
Kalyani Priyadarshan, who's playing the female lead in the film, said that she felt intimidated to do a dance sequence with Simbu on the very first day of the shoot. She added that she was convinced about doing the film when she heard the script narration from Venkat Prabhu.
Venkat Prabhu, Simbu, producer Suresh Kamatchi as well as rest of the team reiterated that they believe this will be the breakthrough film for Simbu that would pave the way for other pan- Indian projects and claimed that the film will serve as a reason for Simbu fans to rejoice.
The team also discussed the making, music and shared their experiences from the sets of Maanaadu. They concluded the session by extending their wishes to actor Vijay ahead of his 47th birthday on June 22. Produced by Suresh Kamatchi, Maanaadu has cinematography by Richard Nathan and has been edited by Praveen KL. It is likely to hit screens later this year.
Watch the full session here: