Maanaadu: Director Venkat Prabhu wanted THIS actor to initially play SJ Suryah’s role in the Silambarasan starrer

The latest Silambarasan starrer Maanaadu is out on big screens and fans are impressed by the storyline and performances of the actors in the movie, especially of SJ Suryah’s. But an ETimes report recently revealed that the director Venkat Prabhu’s first choice for the police officer role was not Suryah but Arvind Swami.

SJ Suryah, in the role of DCP Dhanushkodi in Maanaadu, is ruling the screens with his exceptional antagonistic performance. However, the actor was not the director’s first choice for the role. Venkat Prabhu initially approached the ‘Roja’ star, Arvind Swami to portray the antagonistic avatar in the political thriller. The actor was unable to take up the offer on account of filming delays and other issues. “Then I approached SJ Suryah and he really enjoyed the character after my narration. It was a happy moment for me seeing a great director praising my work, and then he came into the film,” says the ‘Mankatha’ filmmaker.

Venkat Prabhu also mentioned how the shoes of DCP Dhanuskodi fit SJ Suryah perfectly, who took the vibe of Maanaadu to a whole new level. He also spoke of how both of them collaborated in writing the latter’s lines in the movie, which moulded his character and made it enjoyable and hilarious on screen.

Maanaadu talks of a time loop, in which the protagonist gets stuck and ends up living the same day over and over again. Even at the last moment of its release, it managed to leave the fans in a nail-biting moment for its dilemma of postponing its release date.

Also read- SonyLIV bags the digital rights of Venkat Prabhu's Maanaadu, starring Silambarasan and SJ Suryah 

With the movie successfully running in theatres, news on its digital release date has not yet been confirmed, although it is expected to come out on SonyLiv.