I is an upcoming Tamil romantic thriller film directed by S. Shankar and produced by Venu Ravichandran\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Aascar Films. The film stars actor Vikram and Amy Jackson along with Suresh Gopi and Upen Patel. The cinematographer is P. C. Sreeram and music is composed by A. R. Rahman. The dubbed Telugu version of the film has been titled as Manoharudu. Weta Digital has worked on the digital make-up and background arts for the film. The film will be released worldwide in at least 17 languages, in 2014.
Shankar approached Subha to work on the script of the film. Music director A. R. Rahman will compose the music and background score for the film. The cinematographer for the project is P. C. Sreeram. Mary E. Vogt is designing specialized costumes for the lead roles. Action choreographer Peter Ming has been announced for stunt direction with additional stunt direction and supervision by Anal Arasu. VFX company Rising Sun Pictures under supervision of visual effects designer V. Srinivas Mohan would provide the special effects in motion filming. Indian film production designer T. Muthuraj is the art director. In May 2012, Shankar had visited Weta Workshop, New Zealand and met filmmaker Richard Taylor & Peter Jackson\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s special effects and prop company Weta Digital.
Actor Vikram was provided with a catchy makeup by Sean Foot and Davina Lamont.On Weta, Shankar quoted, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I had storming sessions regarding the look of Vikram and others in ‘I’. They took me through the whole Weta Workshop and I was amazed to know all the stunning visuals, makeup and props which I saw in the recent year’s movies are done by Weta.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Vikram was confirmed of playing the lead role much earlier than official announcement. First, it was reported that Asin, would play the lead. Deepika Padukone though reported, denied her association with film and Priyanka Chopra was also rumored for the same. Initially, Samantha Ruth Prabhu signed on, but the actress was forced to opt out as she was unable to allot larger number of dates that were required for the film. Further she clarified being busy for her Telugu film outings.
Amy Jackson was then signed on. Santhanam was also selected to be a part of this film. Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi is playing the role of a doctor. Ramkumar Ganesan is enacting a major role in the film. Actor Srinivasan was chosen to play a significant role in the film. Bollywood actor Upen Patel would be debuting in Tamil cinema through this film.
The film had its official launch on 15 July 2012 accompanied with a poster photo shoot that featured Vikram and Jackson at AVM Studios, Chennai. The first schedule of filming was completed in Chennai by early September 2012. The main cast and crew were off to China for a 45 day schedule to shoot certain stunt scenes while some song sequences were also canned at scenic locales, especially in northern Hunan. The shooting schedule in China ended in late November 2012.
As per reports, filming is expected to be done across eight different countries over the globe. In January 2013, a fight scene was canned at an abandoned, 20 year old factory in Chennai. Sixty percent of the shooting was completed by the end of the same month. By March 2013, four songs and three major action sequences were shot around China, Bangkok, Jodhpur, Kodaikanal, Pollachi and Chennai.In June 2013, three week schedule was completed in Bengaluru, Mysore and Chennai. 75% of the shooting was completed by July 2013 and the in the next schedule of August 2013, considerable portion of the film was shot at a hospital in Kilpauk in Chennai. The shooting for the climax was allotted thirty days.
Majority scenes in the film will have background arts created by workshop held by Weta.
In early July 2012, music composer A. R. Rahman composed a track sung by Vijay Prakash, written by Kabilan. In January 2013, the second song penned by lyricist Madhan Karky was recorded. Karky stated that it was the most challenging song he had ever worked on. Another track by Sunitha Sarathy was recorded on 14 February 2013. Lyricist Madhan Karky\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s third song was recorded in mid-September 2013.
