Vijay Sethupathi announced that he signed the film in September 2013 in an interview to The Hindu, under the direction of first time film maker Ranjith. Sethupathi chose to postpone some of his other projects in order to complete Mellisai, describing it as a thriller film Gayathrie was signed on to play a violin teacher in the film, and to practice for her character she began to learn the instrument part-time.