Udhayanidhi: I had to reconsider my decision to quit acting after Kamal Haasan approached me with a story

Actor-politician Udhayanidhi surprised one and all when he announced a while ago that Mari Selvaraj's Maamannan will be his last film as an actor. The reason he cited for the decision was his busy political schedules. However, he later reconsidered the idea and left fans happy with the announcement of acting as the lead in Kamal Haasan's production.

In an interview with TOI, Udhay said that the expectations from people of his constituency was too high which made him think about spending more time on his political career. Though he had ample time to serve them during the lockdown period, he felt his presence warranted more time for people's needs.

However, Kamal approaching him with a story made him change his plan. Udhay initially thought that the Ulaganayagan came to him to produce the project under his banner. But Kamal's idea was to make it as a film under his own banner with Udhay playing the lead in it.

According to him, the untitled movie will commence in January 2023, and is likely to be completed in a few months. He hasn't committed any other films till now. Maamannan is expected to hit the screens sometime in 2023.

His immediate release is Kalaga Thalaivan which will be released on November 18. The Magizh Thirumeni directorial, which is billed as a crime thriller, has Udhay sporting two looks in it. The movie's story spans a period of eight years and he had to ensure that the two looks appear different.

Kamal Haasan's much-awaited movie Indian 2 resumed after Udhay's intervention. When prodded on the same, he revealed that the crew, under the direction of Shankar, has already wrapped up 50 percent of shooting. He added that it was based on Kamal's suggestion his banner Red Giant Movies came on board as one of its producers.