Naanum Rowdydhaan

In April 2013, Vignesh Shivan, who had directed Podaa Podi (2012), announced that he was set to make a film featuring music composer Anirudh Ravichander in the leading role. The project titled, Naanum Rowdydhaan, was described as an "urban flick" and the team tried to rope in Samantha for the female lead role. In a turn of events in the following month, Anirudh chose not to make an acting debut and the film was briefly shelved as the team looked for a replacement lead actor. The film was subsequently officially announced by producer Gautham Menon in November 2013, who revealed that they had signed on Gautham Karthik to feature in the leading role, while Anirudh would retain his position as composer. George Williams was signed as the cinematographer after being acclaimed for his work in Raja Rani, while Dilip Subbarayan was announced as the film's action director. Vignesh Shivan revealed that the film would be based on a 19-year-old youngster caught in the midst of a gangster setting and noted he hoped to shoot the film in Mumbai, Chennai and Puducherry.[6] Lavanya Tripathi was signed on to play the female lead role of a deaf girl and noted that she was impressed by Vignesh Shivan's narration of the script.