Mari Selvaraj was one of the invitees who spoke at the Tamil Nadu Excels in Education event conducted by the Tamil Nadu Government. The director spoke about the importance of a government backed meal scheme at the event.
Mari said, "I learnt to steal only because of hunger. I went to school, hungrily. And on my way, I snuck into banana plantations to steal and eat the bananas. That was my meal. A lot of my peers at school had to stop their education due to this hunger. I was happy after the Breakfast scheme was implemented. I see the breakfast scheme as a giant leap."
Mari's 2024 film, Vaazhai, highlighted the plight of labourors at these banana plantations. Particularly, the film centred on the story of a school going boy, who in spite of his zeal to study, was forced to work for a living. The film starred child actors Ponvel and Raghul in the lead, alongside Kalaiyarasan, Nikhila Vimal, and Dhivya Duraisamy.
The director is gearing up for the release of his film, Bison Kaalamaadan, which is set to release on October 17, for the occasion of Diwali. Dhruv Vikram and Anupama Parameshwaran leads the cast of the film, which also includes Pasupathy, Ameer, Lal, Rajisha Vijayan, Azhagam Perumal, Aruvi Madhan, and Anurag Arora.
