No more movies: Udhayanidhi Stalin on quitting acting after ‘Maamannan,’ and his political road ahead

Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, will quit movies after upcoming Tamil film ‘Maamannan’, directed by Mari Selvaraj. The actor, who debuted as lead in Tamil film ‘Oru Kal Oru Kannadi’ in 2012, will concentrate on his political career.

In 2012, a reticent Udhayanidhi Stalin made his debut in Tamil cinema as a lead actor with a rom-com titled Oru Kal Oru Kannadi. He described himself as an accidental actor then.

Eleven years later, as he gears up for the release of Maamanan, a film that will be his last, Udhayanidhi uses the same phrase. “I would probably give myself a 5 on 10 as an actor. It has been a short span where I did about fifteen films. But I will always be proud of my first film and my last,” he says, in a conversation with ‘The Hindu’.

The actor-turned-politician and son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin explains that this is because Maamannan, directed by Mari Selvaraj, speaks of social injustice, a theme that has been prevalent in the filmmaker’s earlier works as well. “When it was decided that this would be my last film, I wanted to work with him because I love his frames, scripts and political ideology.”

Dream starcast

The ‘last film’ tag worked well for Udhayanidhi in roping in the best names in each department; Maamannan boasts a unique star cast including Vadivelu, Fahadh Faasil and Keerthi Suresh. “I just opened doors, but it was Mari who convinced all of them. Vadivelu is well known to me and was, in fact, in the frame during my first cameo in Aadhavan (2009). He was surprised that we were offering him a serious and weighty character of a father in this film, but agreed because he liked the script. The entire story revolves around him; he is the ‘Maamannan’,” says Udhayanidhi.

Music for the film is by AR Rahman, with some of the tunes, including the peppy ‘Jigu Jigu Rail’, already doing well on music platforms. “Mari wanted to rope in Santhosh Narayanan, his constant collaborator, but I desired to have tunes from AR Rahman, who agreed as well.”

Udhayanidhi’s fascination for Mari Selvaraj’s cinematic world started with Pariyerum Perumal but grew manifold with the director’s next film, Karnan, starring Dhanush. “Though we’ve seen Dhanush in several rural films, his angry man portrayal in Karnan stood out for me. Yogi Babu was a leading comedian during this phase but he did some great character roles in these two films.”