The director is also quick to acknowledge how such characters might take a physical and mental toll on the actors. He says, “Since all my films deal with challenging scenarios, actors are required to explore some dark spaces within their own selves to understand the predicament of the characters. They are obviously being inserted into an environment that is foreign, so it surely affects the way they view things in their personal life too.” But Selvaraj explains that the film’s success would be the best gift he could give them for putting in so much effort.
In the film, despite the troubles that come their way, Maamannan and his son Athiveeran (Udhaynidhi Stalin) manage to not just survive but also win against Rathnavelu in the elections. A similar pattern can be found in Selvaraj’s previous outings, Pariyerum Perumal (2018) and Karnan (2021), as well. While the hero doesn’t win in the former, he still manages to survive. But Selvaraj assures us that he doesn’t follow a pattern. “To be honest, if you look at the first or second draft, the hero in Karnan dies. But when Dhanush sir was roped in and the film became mainstream, we decided to not kill the hero. We discussed if it was really required for the hero to die in the end and changed plans accordingly. So, the ending is based on what the story demands.”