One of the most exciting films in development, Maanaadu starring Simbu in the lead role is being directed by Venkat Prabhu under producer Suresh Kamatchi's V House Productions banner. Announced to come out in theatres later this year in August, the upcoming mass masala action political entertainer will feature music by Yuvan Shankar Raja and has STR playing the role of a Muslim for the first ever time in his career with his character name revealed to be as Abdhul Khaaliq.

The entire Maanaadu team have been working non-stop over the past three weeks ever since production kicked off on February 19 with a song shoot featuring over 200 dancers from Mumbai and Bengaluru. Choreographed by Raju Sundaram, Chennai 600028 II: Second Innings actress Anjena Kirti too will be featured in the song. In the midst of all these developments, producer Suresh Kamatchi took to his Twitter page to announce that the shooting on Maanaadu has been stopped owing to the coronavirus outbreak across the world.

Suresh Kamatchi penned a statement on his Twitter page saying, "We are having a difficult time in getting past the tragedy where we lost our brothers after a crane fell on them (referring to Kamal Haasan's Indian 2 shooting spot accident). Do you think we'll allow corona to make an entry? During this pack up time, it was STR who was the most disappointed, but has taken into consideration the health and safety of all technicians in the film. We will once again resume our Maanaadu soon in a fantastic manner,". Check out Suresh Kamatchi's tweet below:

கிரேன் விழுந்து எங்கள் சகோதரர்களை இழந்ததையே எங்களால் இன்னமும் மறக்க இயலவில்லை. இந்தக் கொரணோவுக்கா இடம் கொடுப்போம்?
இந்த Back up இல் ரொம்பவே வருந்தியவரும், உழைப்பாளிகளின் பாதுகாப்பு முக்கியம் எனக் கருதியவரும் எங்கள் #STR தான்.

மீண்டும் கெத்தா தொடங்கும் எங்கள் "மாநாடு"⁦ pic.twitter.com/RFKhqva4QO

— sureshkamatchi (@sureshkamatchi) March 16, 2020

Apart from STR in the lead role, Maanaadu includes a massive star cast featuring SJ Suryah as the antagonist, Kalyani Priyadarshan as the female lead followed by Y. Gee. Mahendra, Karunakaran, Premgi Amaren, Manoj Bharathiraja, Daniel Annie Pope, Udhaya, Aravind Akash, Panchu Subbu and directors SA Chandrasekhar and Bharathiraja in supporting roles and the technical crew comprising cinematographer Richard M. Nathan, editor Praveen K. L., Umesh J. Kumar as the art director, Rajeevan for the production design, action choreography by 'Stunt' Silva and costume designs by Vasuki Bhaskar.