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.”
