In November 2009, Manoj Bharathiraja was announced to be making his directorial debut by remaking Bharathiraja\'s successful thriller film Sigappu Rojakkal (1978). Manoj narrated his script to actors Ajith Kumar and then Dhanush in late 2009, both of whom were unable to do the film. Reports suggested that he had been successful in convincing Jeevan and Sridevi to feature in the film, with Yuvan Shankar Raja as the music composer, though this proved to be untrue. Other reports suggested that Jithan Ramesh was considered for the lead role, after being suggested by Ameer, though nothing materialised. After his stint as an assistant director in Shankar\'s Enthiran in early 2010, Manoj continued fine tuning the script and stated it was not a full remake and only drew inspiration from the original. He also revealed that director Ram had also helped on work with the script, while expressing interest in casting either actors Arya or Atharvaa to portray the lead character. Further reports in late 2010 claiming that Sakthi Vasu and Shruti Haasan had been finalised by Manoj for the film, also proved to be untrue.
In October 2014, the film was confirmed to be on the verge of starting shoot with Manoj confirmed as director, while the original film\'s director Bharathiraja announced that he would produce the venture. G. V. Prakash Kumar was signed on as the music composer, while Rajesh Yadav and Pazhanivel were picked as the project\'s cinematographer and editor. The film began production in Chennai during November 2014, with a publicity poster revealing that debutant actor Vishakan would portray the lead role. Bharathiraja revealed that he would play himself during the film\'s first half and stated that filming would take place in India and abroad in Switzerland. He also revealed that the film would tell the story of a youngster who is affected to commit crimes after watching the original film featuring Kamal Haasan.
