The collaboration between Listin Stephen and Raadhika Sarathkumar\\\\\\\'s production house and director Balaji Mohan was first revealed in January 2014, with Dhanush and Kajal Aggarwal signed on to be a part of the \\\\\\\"romantic entertainer\\\\\\\". Balaji Mohan continued to develop the script after the release of his bilingual film Vaayai Moodi Pesavum in May 2014, with Dhanush confirming that the project was in it\\\\\\\'s pre-production stages. Unlike his previous projects, Balaji Mohan confirmed that the film would not be a bilingual and added it was \\\\\\\"definitely not a love story\\\\\\\".
The team began filming for the project in early November 2014 in Chennai, aiming for a Summer 2015 release. The title Maari, was confirmed shortly after production began via the director\\\\\\\'s Twitter page.