Maamannan () is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language political drama film written and directed by Mari Selvaraj and produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Vadivelu, Fahadh Faasil, Keerthy Suresh, and Udhayanidhi Stalin.

Maamannan released on 29 June 2023, where it received positive reviews from critics and grossed  against a production budget of .

Plot 
Maamannan is an MLA belonging to the Dalit community, who rose up the ranks from being a cadre of the Samathuva Samooganeedhi Makkal Kazhagam (SSMK) in Salem district, Tamil Nadu. Maamannan's son Athiveeran alias "Veera", is a practitioner of Adimurai who stopped talking to his father owing to emotional and physical trauma caused by a casteist attack from members of the local dominant community in his childhood. Rathnavelu is the SSMK district secretary for Salem and younger son of late ex-minister Sundaram, a  dominant community head. Rathnavelu's brash, aggressive behaviour develops loggerheads with Maamannan.

One day, Rathnavelu's men destroy a free coaching centre run by Veera's friends and his love interest Leela because it was affecting the business of a private coaching centre run by Rathnavelu's elder brother in his father's name. Veera and his friends destroy Rathnavelu's coaching centre in retaliation. Rathnavelu invites Maamannan and Veera to sort out this issue without further violence. At the meeting, Veera notices that Maamannan is standing while everyone else including Rathnavelu are sitting in chairs. Veera asks his father to sit down, where Rathnavelu remarks that Maamannan will never sit down in his house and that it is his habit since forever. Veera continuously demands that Maamannan sits down, Rathnavelu gets enraged where he slaps Veera and pushes Maamannan who intervened when his son is hit. An enraged Veera kicks down Rathnavelu in retaliation.

Rathnavelu directs his men to beat up Maamannan and Veera where he runs to fetch his gun, but his wife Jyothi locks him inside the room to prevent further chaos. Veera beats up all the men who attacks him and his father and they leave. Rathnavelu plans to counter-attack and kill Maamannan and Veeran, but is ordered to stay put by the Chief Minister Ka. Sindhanai Rajan. Unable to attack Maamannan and Veeran, Rathnavelu unleashes his dogs and kills the pet pigs raised by Veera. Veera and Maamannan and their friends and family are deeply hurt by this symbolic cruelty. Sindhanai Rajan asks Rathnavel to apologise to Maamannan or forget his party membership. Rathnavel relinquishes party membership and joins the opposite party MSSMK (Marumalarchi Samathuva Samooganeedhi Makkal Kazhagam) . Rathnavel nominates a candidate of his choice to compete against Maamannan.

Rathnavel challenges Maamannan that now that his support is not there, Maamannan will surely fail in the upcoming elections. A tight battle occurs during election campaign wherein Rathnavel tries to rally the support of all dominant castes against Maamannan. Rathnavel even kills a caste association head to create sympathy wave in favour of his candidate. All his plans succeed to some extent, but the youth of the constituency rebel against Rathnavel dictating whom each street should vote for. In the ensuing elections, Maamannan wins by a big margin and Rathnavel is left humbled and failed. The SSMK is re-elected to power and Maamannan is made the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Veera and Leela continue to be engaged in their grassroot level social welfare activities.

Cast 

 Vadivelu as Sa. Maamannan, Veera's father, MLA of Kasipuram and Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
 Fahadh Faasil as Rathnavelu, district secretary of SSMK
 Udhayanidhi Stalin as Athiveeran "Veera", Maamannan's son, Adimurai Teacher
 S. Surya as Young Athiveeran
 Keerthy Suresh as Leela, Veera's love interest, an educator for underprivileged students
 Lal as Ka. Sindhanai Rajan, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
 Azhagam Perumal as Salem Sundaram, Rathnavelu and Shanmugavel's father
 Vijayakumar as the Leader  of the Opposition
 Raveena Ravi as Jyothi, Rathnavelu's wife and MLA of Salem West
 Sunil Reddy as Shanmugavel, Rathnavelu's elder brother
 Geetha Kailasam as Veerayi, Maamannan's wife and Veera's mother
 Indhumathy Manikandan as Rathnavelu and Shanmugavel's mother
 TNB Kathir as Sangam Thalaivar
 Pathmen as Rathnavelu's henchmen
 Ramakrishnan as Ramakrishnan, Veera's friend
 Madhan Dhakshiamoorthy as A. Madhankumar, MSSMK candidate for Kasipuram
 Praveen as Veera's friend

Production

Development 
In July 2021, Udhayanidhi Stalin was reported to do a film with Mari Selvaraj, and the film would be his last before leaving the film industry. In September, reports were claiming that Fahadh Faasil was going to be seen in a cruical role in the film. In November, Vadivelu was also reported to act in the film, making it a 5-years comeback for him to the film industry. In January 2022, A. R. Rahman was reported to compose the music for the film, in his maiden collaboration with Mari. The same month, Keerthy Suresh was reported to join the film and play the lead female role. Fahadh's commitments to the film was confirmed in the following March. The same month, Red Giant Movies announced their next film Maamannan, which confirmed the reported starrer,  direction by Mari Selvaraj and music by A. R. Rahman. In May 2022, Udhayanidhi said Maamannan would be his final film as an actor, after which he intended to concentrate on his political career.

Filming 
The first schedule of film shooting was wrapped up in the same month as the film announcement. Vadivelu joined the team later with a grand welcome after ban from the cinema industry, which was lifted after 5-years. The second schedule commenced in May 2022, with Fahadh joining the team. Some parts were filmed at Jarugumalai, a small hill station at the southern part of Salem District.

In June 2022, Udhayanidhi, via Twitter, announced that the second schedule wrapped up with a cake-cutting celebration. In August 2022, Udhayanidhi resumed shooting for the final schedule. He also shared a photo with himself and Selvaraj on Twitter. In September 2022, Keerthy Suresh had completed shooting her part's of the film. Later the same month, the film's shooting had wrapped up with a mini-celebration.

Post-production 
In March 2023, Vadivelu started dubbing for his portions.
An audio launch was held at Nehru Stadium in Chennai on June 1 with the Maamannan team and many chief guests, including Kamal Hassan and Sivakarthikeyan.

Music 

The music is composed by A. R. Rahman, in his first collaboration with Mari Selvaraj and Udhayanidhi Stalin. First single 'Raasa Kannu' sung by Vadivelu was released on 19 May 2023. The audio launch event of Maamannan was held in Chennai, on June 1, 2023. Along with the Maamannan team, Pa. Ranjith, A. R. Murugadoss, Mysskin, Pandiraj, H. Vinoth, Vijay Antony, Kavin, Kamal Hassan, Sivakarthikeyan, Vetrimaaran, S. J. Suryah, Pradeep Ranganathan, Soori, Vignesh Shivan and Boney Kapoor attended the event.

Release

Theatrical 
Maamannan released theatrically on 29 June 2023. Reports claimed that the film would be released on 14 April 2023, coinciding Tamil New Year, but it was later officially announced by the team with the first look posters that the movie will be releasing in June 2023. Following the release of the film's trailer on 16 June, it was announced that the film will release on 29 June. As Udhayanidhi announced Maamannan would be his final film as an actor, producer Rama Saravanan attempted to block the film's release via the Madras High Court unless Udhayanidhi cooperate with him to complete Angel, a film that was nearly complete but had been in stagnation for years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the court rejected his plea.

Home media 
The post theatrical streaming rights of the film has been bagged by Netflix and the satellite rights were acquired by Kalaignar TV. The film released on Netflix on 27 July 2023.

Reception

Critical response 
Maamannan received positive reviews from critics.

Gopinath Rajendran of The Hindu said "Maamannan certainly has its heart in the right place and touches upon several important topics. But it's still an underwhelming political drama that's saved by its lead cast's brilliant performances." Bharathy Singaravel of The News Minute gave the film 4 out of 5 and said "After 'Pariyerum Perumal' and 'Karnan', director Mari Selvaraj is back with yet another film that will redefine how Kollywood talks about caste." Manigandan KR of The South First gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "Vadivelu and Fahadh Faasil put up an exceptional show; barring some minor issues, the movie leaves a mark on audiences." M Suganth of The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 and said "An okayish, but hardly potent sociopolitical drama." Kirubhakar Purushothaman of The Indian Express gave the film 2.5 out of 5 and said "Maamannan is, perhaps, the weakest film of Mari Selvaraj despite the director being unabashedly open about his political affiliations." Janaki K of India Today gave the film 2.5 out of 5 and said "Director Mari Selvaraj's Maamannan, starring Vadivelu, Udhayanidhi Stalin, Fahadh Faasil and Keerthy Suresh, is a film that exposes the social injustice in society. While the film has some solid performances, the story does not have enough meat." Ananda Vikatan rated the film 46 out of 100.

Box office 
Maamannan grossed 6 crore worldwide on its opening day. The film headed towards 50 crore on its opening weekend worldwide.

References

External links 

2020s political drama films
2020s Tamil-language films
2023 films
Films directed by Mari Selvaraj
Films scored by A. R. Rahman
Films set in Tamil Nadu
Indian political drama films