'Soori Owns Every Character He Plays': Prasanth Pandiyaraj on ‘Maaman’ and Writing Vulnerable Men

When Prasanth Pandiyaraj heard Soori’s story for Maaman, he was moved. He took about a month to firm up a screenplay, but he had one self-imposed caveat: there was going to be no villain in this film. “Because there are no villains in families,” says Pandiyaraj in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India. “There are only differences in opinion, so we made sure that there were different perspectives, but no real villain. Now that was a challenge.” The film, co-starring Aishwarya Lekshmi, Rajkiran, Swasika, and Baba Baskar, explores the special bond between an uncle (played by Soori) and his nephew. 

It’s been raining family dramas (well, almost) in Tamil cinema in recent times, with titles like Kudumbasthan (2025), Meiyazhagan (2024), Chithha (2023), and the wildly popular Tourist Family (2025) finding resonance among audiences reeling from action film fatigue. Prasanth is relieved by this pleasant uptick. “When all of us wrote these films, there weren't any family dramas running in the theatres. There is always an interest in family stories, so there are many opportunities to bring in different narratives. Now, if I narrate this story to you, you might get reminded of your own thaimaaman (uncle). The idea was to make it relatable and exciting at the same time.” 

While the film couldn’t be more different from his previous outing, the slow-burn whodunit Vilangu (The 2022 series followed the life of Paridhi, a compassionate cop investigating a series of murders), the filmmaker believes he’s always been curious about the dynamics of interpersonal family relationships. “Take someone like Paridhi, for instance. He might be caught up with some major police work like looking for the head of a corpse, and this is when his mother-in-law might ask him to get her some tea! This happens to all of us. I find these ironies super interesting. When you portray any sort of life, it feels incomplete to depict them without talking about the family.”

The director reveals that Maaman was wrapped up within a short time. “We started filming on December 16 and are releasing on May 16,” he notes with a laugh. “When audiences watch a film, they would expect some aspect of the storytelling to surprise them. But this story had so many layers. We worked on the plot quite a bit, and feel it's come out well. If the audiences think so too, it is a win, otherwise, we'll work on it next time.” 

It also helped that every actor in the film — anchored by Soori — owned the film he says. Soori, who turned leading star with Vetri Maaran’s Viduthalai (2023), has made a conscious effort in choosing scripts that flaunt his range: if he was a loyal guardian in Garudan (2024), he turned into a cruel misogynist in Kottukkaali (2024). “We need more such heroes like this,” Pandiyaraj says. “You can fit him in any kind of role. In Kottukkaali, he took on such a different kind of role where he is super angry and even beats people up; he has worked so hard to break the image of what a mass actor should do.”

Pandiyaraj agrees that he’s drawn to writing and depicting soft men like Vimal from Vilangu and Soori from Maaman. “I am surprised that you have noted this because this is a quality I want to imbibe as well. So, maybe I am attracted to these characters,” he says, hopeful that we see more vulnerable men on-screen in Tamil cinema.