Stills from the Mari Selvaraj directed Maamannan, which stars Udhayanidhi Stalin, Vadivelu, Fahadh Faasil and Keerthy Suresh in lead roles have been surfacing off late. In on of these images, Vadivelu's character was spotted adoring a tattoo on his forearm, which eagle-eyed fans have deciphered to look similar to actor Lal's portrait. 

Director Mari Selvaraj's last film Karnan (2021), Lal played a character named Yema Raja (Thatha) who self-immolates at a crucial point in the movie. Karnan ends with a portrait of this character adorning the village community hall's wall, and Vadivelu's tattoo seems to be eerily similar to this portrait of Lal. 

MCU - Mari Selvaraj cinematic universe 🥵🥶 pic.twitter.com/PA03gSJZzr

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This has sparked rumours of a crossover between Karnan and Maamannan, though it is yet to be officially confirmed. Maamannan has AR Rahman for music and Udhayanidhi Stalin's Red Giant Movies is producing it at a big scale. In case of a crossover, this will be Mari Selvaraj's first attempt at a cinematic universe, set in the Southern most districts of Tamil Nadu.