You wouldn’t find many directors as calm and composed as director Sasi before the release of a film. That Nooru Saami — starring Vijay Antony, Swastika and Ajay Dhishan — has come out the way he envisioned, brings him peace. “I am relieved and happy that I made the film I wanted to make,” he says. This is Sasi’s first release in seven years. “I made a film called Nooru Kodi Vaanavil with Harish Kalyan and Siddhi Idnani; however, the film remains unreleased due to some reasons and will come out in a couple of months.”

He confesses he hasn’t been the most consistent filmmaker around; in a career spanning over 28 years, Sasi has made just eight films, Nooru Saami being his ninth. This is why he accepts that his brand of filmmaking hasn’t always been in the limelight as much as one wishes. I remind Sasi of a group photo that director Gautham Vasudev Menon shared last August — it features some of the most acclaimed Tamil directors, Mani Ratnam, Shankar, Mysskin, Gautham, N Lingusamy, Balaji Sakthivel, Nelson, and Vasantha Balan, and wedged in the centre of this array of talent is Sasi. Calling themselves a group of 13 filmmakers who meet as friends, Sasi reminisces how it all started during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We just wanted to band together as industry colleagues. But when the pandemic-induced lockdown lifted, we had to fulfil our film commitments, and so we couldn’t meet for some time.” The group, which also has AR Murugadoss, Lokesh Kanagaraj and Vetri Maaran, now meets occasionally. “It’s just a casual meet. That doesn’t mean I would ask Gautham, for instance, to act in my film. We all maintain that limit. We would discuss films, and these meetings would feel like a masterclass.”

What particularly sets him apart is the fact that he has made only one film with a big star — the Venkatesh-starrer Seenu. “I make films about simple human beings. I am not someone who likes to shoot larger than life. And maybe that is why I haven’t done films with big stars.” He understands that filmmakers like Pa Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj have pulled off great films with big stars. “So I won’t say my approach is right. It’s just that I don’t seem to have the knack for it.”

Even Vijay Antony, arguably the biggest Tamil star the director has worked with, seems to have chosen Nooru Saami and their earlier collaboration, the blockbuster Pichaikkaran, for their offbeat nature. “Only he would accept doing such stories. Many heroes looked at Pichaikkaran as the story of a beggar; he understood that it was actually the story of a rich man.” Sasi then drops a shocking reveal that Nooru Saami doesn’t feature Antony as the protagonist.

Nooru Saami is essentially the story of a mother and son, and Sasi wanted Antony’s nephew Ajay Dhishan to play the role of the son. “But after listening to the narration, he (Antony) said he wanted to do it himself. I was surprised. He said, ‘No, let Ajay do the lead role, but I will do the character of Elumalai’.” This further perplexed Sasi as Elumalai has very little screen time — “He doesn’t even appear in the first half of the film,” he says. “He then chose to produce it as well. What I admire about him is that he has tremendous storytelling sense and knows the pulse of the common audience.”

Nooru Saami — the title of which is taken from the eponymous song from Pichaikkaran — is a story about a middle-aged single woman who battles societal norms to build a life for herself. “If Pichaikkaran asked sons to look at their mothers with reverence, this film tells them that she isn’t a god; just another human being. The story traverses what happens to a mother when her son learns to look at her as a human being.” The core of this film, he adds, is inspired by a real-life story that Sasi came across while watching a reality show. “After the show, I contacted them and documented their life in 2022. Then, in 2025, I started working on a script.”

Another distinct feature of Sasi’s filmography has been his commendable hit rate with the soundtracks of his films; from Sollamale and Roja Koottam to Pichaikkaran and Sivappu Manjal Pachai, every album of the director has had chartbuster songs. What must astonish one is how, through the nine films he has done till now, Sasi has introduced six new music directors. Even Nooru Saami has songs scored by newcomer Balaji Sriram. “I might take some time to choose a story, but not much when it comes to writing the script. Then, even before I finalise on a hero, I would start working with my cinematographer and music director to save time. The moment we fix a hero, we would start shooting immediately.” The filmmaker likes it when newcomer technicians surprise him with their output. “I don’t like working with those who merely execute what I want from them. They should fight to establish themselves.”

To Sasi, there is no pleasure in the shooting of a film. “But there’s tremendous pleasure in witnessing it come to life during post-production. I would think, ‘Oh, look at how well the assistant directors have managed that artiste,’ or ‘Look how well the scene we imagined has come to life,’ and so on,” he says. “And I am happy to report that I have been getting a lot of such pleasurable instances in my last few films,” he signs off.

Nooru Saami will release in theatres on June 19