Actor Pavel Navageethan, known for playing several supporting roles in Tamil films, is headlining debut director Hari K Sudhan's Maria.
The film, with Saishri Prabhakaran playing the titular role, was screened in the Maharaja Film Festival, Coliseum International Film Festival and Kalakari Film Festival.
With the tagline of 'Every sin has a reason', the film's makers say that women have every right to refuse any opinion and should not be prevented from expressing their viewpoint. Talking about the film's story, director Hari says, "The film is about a woman, a nun, who encounters her natural sexual urges at a juncture. Out of her helplessness, she leaves the monastery to find refuge in a satanic cult. How a woman is buffeted around with such extreme ideologies will be explored in Maria."
He adds a word of caution that his film will not stray into the 'message zone'. "My film will lay out all the societal requirements for women how they suffer and where such pressures take them. I am not here to advocate for anything. I leave it to the audiences and let them decide the rights and wrongs themselves," he says, adding, "Also I don't prefer raw storytelling and make it an uneasy watch. I have employed gothic and surreal aspects as per necessity to make the film engaging."
Hari further adds that while Pavel has played several antagonistic roles, in Maria, where he takes on the role of a satanic cult leader, his character will seem like a saviour in the titular role's eyes since the story unfolds in her perspective. "In his other films where he plays a bad guy, there would be no vagueness about his intentions. However, in Maria, I have designed his character in a way where you would be confused if he is an empowering person, who helps Maria live a confident life free of religious strictures, or a dubious guy," he comments.
Pavel, who made his acting debut in a supporting role in Pa Ranjith's Madras (2014), also has to his credits Kuttram Kadithal (2015), Magalir Mattum (2017), Vada Chennai (2018), Peranbu (2019), the Inmai segment from Navarasa (2021), Valimai and Taanakkaran (2022), and both parts of Vetrimaaran's Viduthalai. He has also helmed a film, V1 Murder Case, starring Ram Arun Castro and Vishnupriya Pillai, in 2019.
The film's cast is rounded up by Sidhu Kumaresan, Vignesh Ravi and Sudha Pushpa. Cinematographer G Manishankar, editors K Kaamesh & Nishar Sharef, Aravind Gopalakrishnan (background score), Bharath Sudharshan and Adam (songs) are a part of the film's technical team.
Maria, produced by Hari's Dark Artz Productions, is yet to get a release date. The film will be released in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada.