DEVELOPMENT
After finishing and releasing Bala's magnum opus Naan Kadavul in February 2009, Bala, whose previous feature films had all been tragedy drama films dealing with serious and dark subjects, announced that for his next directorial, he would be moving away from such films and make a full-length light-hearted comedy film. He was working on its script in the following months, whilst declaring that it will be a double hero subject. Allegedly Bala had come to this decision, since his earlier films, despite receiving critical acclaim, garnered poor or only average box office returns.
Though initially Soundarya Rajinikanth's Ocher Studios were reported to be the producer of the film, Kalpathi S. Agoram finally took up the project and decided to produce it under the banner of AGS Entertainment. On 25 January 2010, an official press meet was held, where the film's official title was finally revealed and the film's lead female actress as well as the technicians were announced, with which the project official commenced. During the launch, Bala told that unlike his earlier films, Avan Ivan would have an "extra dose of comedy, besides action and family sentiments." He had also disclosed that, unlike his earlier films, he will complete Avan Ivan within eight months of time and be ready for a release in late 2010. According to sources, Bala intended to name the film as Avana Ivan first, but as it was already registered by director Bharath, who was not willing to give away the title, he changed the title to Avan Ivan.
CASTING
For the two lead male characters, who play step brothers in the film, several actors from the Tamil film industry were considered. Real-life siblings Surya and Karthi, as well as Jeeva and Githan Ramesh were considered for the roles, which were at last bagged by Arya, renewing his association with Bala after Naan Kadavul, and Vishal Krishna. Vishal later creditted Arya, who were friends even before entering the film industry, for becoming part of the project. Both actors had to change their looks; they reportedly tonsured their heads for their roles, and kept their looks secretive, avoiding public appearances. Reports further suggested that Vishal played a transgender in the film, which he went on to deny, while clarifiying that he sports a squint and wore braces throughout the film. He reportedly became the first ever actor to attempt a squint look in a feature film, which was considered for an entry in The Guinness Book of World Records.
Regarding the lead female roles, Bala and his close associates had travelled across entire Tamil Nadu, searching for the right person, who should be preferably a new face and fluent in Tamil language. In late November 2009 in association with Indiaglitz.com, a "heroine hunting" program was conducted through the internet, where women, who were 18 year old and could understand Tamil, could apply for the role. In November 2009, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, daughter of actor Sarath Kumar, who will debut in Podaa Podi alongside Silambarasan Rajendar, was reportedly roped in for the role. However, at the official press meet in late January 2009, it was revealed that Janani Iyer, a Chennai-based model, who had appeared in several television advertisements, was chosen for the role. For another lead female character, Pooja Umashankar, who was also part of Bala's Naan Kadavul, and Nivedhitha, who had starred in small-budget films Kadhai and Porkkalam were initially considered. Eventually, former Telugu VJ, model and actress Madhu Shalini was finalised, to portray the role of a college student and the love interest of Arya's character, while she was also made by Bala to dub for herself. Meanwhile, businessman-turned-actor R. K. was roped in for to play a villainous role. In May 2010, Surya Sivakumar was signed to appear in a guest role as himself. Additionally, Reemma Sen, too, would perform a cameo role.
FILMING
Furthermore, Yuvan Shankar Raja was announced as the music director of the film, joining Bala again after the successful Nandha in 2001. About replacing his usual music director Ilaiyaraaja by his son, Bala said that since it was a youth-centric film, Yuvan Shankar Raja can "bring the right feel". Meanwhile, National Film Award-winning A. Sreekar Prasad was roped in as the film's editor and Arthur A. Wilson remained the cinematographer. S. Ramakrishnan was assigned to write the dialogues, after J. S. Ragavan and professor Gnanasambanthan were approached.
Bala, whose films usually take several years to get completed and released, disclosed that this film, however, would be finished in eight months time. The film's shooting, which was supposed to commence on 10 February 2010 in Tenkasi and Shenkottah and to be completed in two schedules, started with a slight delay nine days later in Courtallam, where a major portion was shot. Almost the entire film was shot in and across Theni, with minor portions being filmed in Ambasamudram, and Chennai at the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. The climax part was filmed at the last, which was completed by late January 2011 and with which Vishal had finished his portion. The entire shooting was completed in early February, with Vishal later confessing that he was the sole reason for the delay in completion. The film took almost 200 days to complete, but became Bala's fastest shoot nonetheless. From 10 February 2011, the dubbing and post-production works commenced.
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