Director Sasi: Vijay Antony is not the hero of ‘Nooru Saami’

You wouldn’t find galore directors arsenic calm and composed arsenic manager Sasi earlier the merchandise of a film. That Nooru Saami — starring Vijay Antony, Swastika and Ajay Dhishan — has travel retired the mode helium envisioned, brings him peace. “I americium relieved and blessed that I made the movie I wanted to make,” helium says. This is Sasi’s archetypal merchandise successful 7 years. “I made a movie called Nooru Kodi Vaanavil with Harish Kalyan and Siddhi Idnani; however, the movie remains unreleased owed to immoderate reasons and volition travel retired successful a mates of months.”

He confesses helium hasn’t been the astir accordant filmmaker around; successful a vocation spanning implicit 28 years, Sasi has made conscionable 8 films, Nooru Saami being his ninth. This is wherefore helium accepts that his marque of filmmaking hasn’t ever been successful the limelight arsenic overmuch arsenic 1 wishes. I punctual Sasi of a radical photograph that manager Gautham Vasudev Menon shared past August — it features immoderate of the astir acclaimed Tamil directors, Mani Ratnam, Shankar, Mysskin, Gautham, N Lingusamy, Balaji Sakthivel, Nelson, and Vasantha Balan, and wedged successful the centre of this array of endowment is Sasi. Calling themselves a radical of 13 filmmakers who conscionable arsenic friends, Sasi reminisces however it each started during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We conscionable wanted to set unneurotic arsenic manufacture colleagues. But erstwhile the pandemic-induced lockdown lifted, we had to fulfil our movie commitments, and truthful we couldn’t conscionable for immoderate time.” The group, which besides has AR Murugadoss, Lokesh Kanagaraj and Vetri Maaran, present meets occasionally. “It’s conscionable a casual meet. That doesn’t mean I would inquire Gautham, for instance, to enactment successful my film. We each support that limit. We would sermon films, and these meetings would consciousness similar a masterclass.”

What peculiarly sets him isolated is the information that helium has made lone 1 movie with a large prima — the Venkatesh-starrer Seenu. “I marque films astir elemental quality beings. I americium not idiosyncratic who likes to sprout larger than life. And possibly that is wherefore I haven’t done films with large stars.” He understands that filmmakers similar Pa Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj person pulled disconnected large films with large stars. “So I won’t accidental my attack is right. It’s conscionable that I don’t look to person the knack for it.”

Even Vijay Antony, arguably the biggest Tamil prima the manager has worked with, seems to person chosen Nooru Saami and their earlier collaboration, the blockbuster Pichaikkaran, for their offbeat nature. “Only helium would judge doing specified stories. Many heroes looked astatine Pichaikkaran as the communicative of a beggar; helium understood that it was really the communicative of a affluent man.” Sasi past drops a shocking uncover that Nooru Saami doesn’t diagnostic Antony arsenic the protagonist.

Nooru Saami is fundamentally the communicative of a parent and son, and Sasi wanted Antony’s nephew Ajay Dhishan to play the relation of the son. “But aft listening to the narration, helium (Antony) said helium wanted to bash it himself. I was surprised. He said, ‘No, fto Ajay bash the pb role, but I volition bash the quality of Elumalai’.” This further perplexed Sasi arsenic Elumalai has precise small surface clip — “He doesn’t adjacent look successful the archetypal fractional of the film,” helium says. “He past chose to nutrient it arsenic well. What I respect astir him is that helium has tremendous storytelling consciousness and knows the pulse of the communal audience.”

Nooru Saami — the rubric of which is taken from the eponymous opus from Pichaikkaran — is simply a communicative astir a middle-aged azygous pistillate who battles societal norms to physique a beingness for herself. “If Pichaikkaran asked sons to look astatine their mothers with reverence, this movie tells them that she isn’t a god; conscionable different quality being. The communicative traverses what happens to a parent erstwhile her lad learns to look astatine her arsenic a quality being.” The halfway of this film, helium adds, is inspired by a real-life communicative that Sasi came crossed portion watching a world show. “After the show, I contacted them and documented their beingness successful 2022. Then, successful 2025, I started moving connected a script.”

Another chiseled diagnostic of Sasi’s filmography has been his commendable deed complaint with the soundtracks of his films; from Sollamale and Roja Koottam to Pichaikkaran and Sivappu Manjal Pachai, each medium of the manager has had chartbuster songs. What indispensable astonish 1 is how, done the 9 films helium has done till now, Sasi has introduced six caller euphony directors. Even Nooru Saami has songs scored by newcomer Balaji Sriram. “I mightiness instrumentality immoderate clip to take a story, but not overmuch erstwhile it comes to penning the script. Then, adjacent earlier I finalise connected a hero, I would commencement moving with my cinematographer and euphony manager to prevention time. The infinitesimal we hole a hero, we would commencement shooting immediately.” The filmmaker likes it erstwhile newcomer technicians astonishment him with their output. “I don’t similar moving with those who simply execute what I privation from them. They should combat to found themselves.”

To Sasi, determination is nary pleasance successful the shooting of a film. “But there’s tremendous pleasance successful witnessing it travel to beingness during post-production. I would think, ‘Oh, look astatine however good the adjunct directors person managed that artiste,’ oregon ‘Look however good the country we imagined has travel to life,’ and truthful on,” helium says. “And I americium blessed to study that I person been getting a batch of specified pleasurable instances successful my past fewer films,” helium signs off.

Nooru Saami volition merchandise successful theatres connected June 19