Sathyaraj played the role of a Police officer in Thalapathy Vijay's Mersal, directed by Atlee. Though Sathyaraj scored the best, with the limited scope given to him, his screen time was very less in the movie.

During an exclusive interview with Behindwoods, when he was asked what made him accept to do Mersal, in spite of the limited scope and screentime, Sathyaraj said, "Actually, the first reason is Atlee. We worked together in Raja Rani, and I got wide appreciations and awards for that role. Secondly, and actually, the main thing is that I had many interesting scenes in Mersal, which were edited out and kept as footages. There were 4-5 fantastic scenes that went away in the footages.
 

When Atlee narrated me the script, I was told that my portions (with Sathyan) will be like the conversation scenes between Bhagyaraj and Senthil in Naan Sigappu Manithan (1985 film). They didn't cut out those scenes wantedly. It was the necessity to convey the main crux of the film, within that given runtime. There is nothing wrong on their part. I did the film, having faith and belief in Atlee, and I guess, there is no need for him to cut my scenes from the film. It was the time's necessity."

SATHYARAJ TALKS ABOUT HIS LESS SCREENTIME IN VIJAY'S MERSAL VIDEO