Ganesh, a former assistant to directors S. S. Rajamouli, Vikraman and R. Kannan announced that he would be making a film named Nambiar and had approached actor - music composer Vijay Antony to play the title role. However, due to his prior commitments, Vijay turned down the offer for acting and instead agreed to score music for the film.
It was then offered to Srikanth, who had then made a strong comeback through the film Nanban. Comedy actor Santhanam was approached to play another role sharing the same screen length with the lead actor. Actress Sunaina was signed in to play the female lead role. Srikanth's wife Vandana makes her entry as the costume designer of the film.
Ganesh called this as his "dream project" and also reportedly approached Mohan Nambiar, son of veteran villain actor Nambiar and got formal permission from him before naming the film after the late actor.The shoot of the first schedule of the film was happening in Chennai in June 2013.