Vijay Sethupathi’s next doesn’t open with his face, his voice, or even his body. Muthu Engira Kaattaan, a 10-episode web series streaming on JioHotstar from March 27, begins with his character’s severed head on a hillside. No context. No explanation. Just a dead man whose story unravels through the conflicting accounts of everyone who claims to have known him.
That a star actor agreed to this is itself a statement. “No star actor in India would say yes to something like this,” said Pradeep, JioHotstar’s senior vice president for content. “Only Vijay Sethupathi has that courage. And that courage is what makes this series extraordinary.”
The series is directed by M. Manikandan, whose Kaaka Muttai won the National Award for Best Children’s Film and whose Kadaisi Vivasayi won Best Tamil Film at the National Awards. This is his third collaboration with Vijay Sethupathi after Aandavan Kattalai and Kadaisi Vivasayi, a partnership that goes back to 2008, when Manikandan cast a young Sethupathi in a short film called Wind. “His knowledge always surprises me,” Sethupathi said of the director. “He sees things from angles that are completely different.”
The production story is almost as dramatic as the premise. Manikandan and co-director B. Ajith Kumar began filming, but 20 days in, the original producers pulled out over budget concerns. The project nearly died. JioHotstar’s Pradeep approached Sethupathi directly, asking him to step in as producer. “He thought about it and then agreed,” Pradeep recalled. “A star actor already playing the lead, now bankrolling the entire project. That kind of commitment is rare.” Vijay Sethupathi Productions financed the rest, making this JioHotstar’s most expensive Tamil web series to date, with a production span of two and a half years.
The story, drawn from an incident in Manikandan’s father’s life, uses a Rashomon-like structure. Each episode presents a different witness’s account of who Muthu was: outlaw, healer, mechanic, dancer. The truth shifts with every telling. Screenwriter R. Rajkumar, who developed the script with Manikandan over months, said the character generated enough material for two more series.
Milind Soman, appearing in a Tamil web series for the first time, plays a key role. “When I saw the script opening with a star actor’s severed head, I was astonished,” he said. “That itself convinced me.” Sudev Nair, Singam Puli, Kalaivani Bhaskar, VJ Parvathy, Risha Jacob, and Abi Nakshatra fill out the ensemble.
Rajesh Murugesan, best known for scoring Premam, handles the music. During filming, Sethupathi improvised a tune on set that Murugesan turned into a full song. “He was humming something in the atmosphere of a scene, and I liked it,” the composer said. “We polished it and it became one of three songs in the series.” Cinematographers Shanmugasundaram and Madhu Neelakandan split the visual duties. Shanmugasundaram, on his third project with Sethupathi after Aandavan Kattalai and 96, described the action sequences as some of the most demanding work he has done.
Muthu Engira Kaattaan streams in seven languages starting March 27 on JioHotstar.