Vada Chennai

Development

During the production of Aadukalam (2011), Vetrimaaran simultaneously readied up another script titled Vada Chennai and it was announced that Karthi signed the film in October 2009.^[5] In February 2010, it was revealed that the film would see Karthi play the lead role of a fisherman who is drawn into a mafia gang unwillingly.^[6] It was reported that the film would be produced by Dayanidhi Azhagiri and the female lead role would be portrayed by Anushka Shetty, who would play a Marwari girl.^[7] However talks with Karthi fell through after the film became delayed and in July 2010, Vetrimaaran revealed that discussions were being held with three lead actors to play the lead role.^[8] The film made news without an official announcement over the next year and following the success of Aadukalam, Vetrimaaran began considering other scripts instead.^[9]

In October 2011, the producers announced that the film would start soon and would feature Silambarasan, Rana Daggubati and Kishore in pivotal roles, with Vetrimaaran adding that the story of Vada Chennai was first written in 2003 and that he took notes from the first script to make his other two films.^[10][11][12] Vetrimaaran's usual team of cinematographer Velraj, editor Kishore T.E., art director Jacki and music director G. V. Prakash Kumar were also confirmed to be a part of the crew.^[13][14] The director confirmed that Andrea Jeremiah would play a pivotal supporting role.^[15] Divya Spandana, who previously worked with Vetrimaaran in Polladhavan, was approached for a role but did not sign on during January 2012.^[16] In a turn of events, Rana Daggubati opted out of the film in February 2012 citing date issues and the film's delay.^[17] Furthermore, it was alleged that the delay of the film had also irked Silambarasan, with reports suggesting that Jiiva would replace him if the actor walked out of the project.^[18] In April 2012, Dayanidhi Azhagiri announced that the project was postponed and announced that Vetrimaaran would move on to make another film for his production house starring Dhanush in the lead.^[19] Vetrimaaran subsequently contemplated making several different projects with the actor in the lead, before beginning filming for Soodhadhi in March 2014. Months into production, the film was also postponed.^[20]

In May 2015, Dhanush revealed that he would produce and feature in Vada Chennai and the venture would restart production in September 2015. Samantha and Andrea Jeremiah were revealed to be among the lead actresses, while Santhosh Narayanan would be the film's composer after Dhanush had fallen out with Prakash Kumar.^[21] Also, G.B. Venkatesh who assists Kishore T.E. on Visaranai was roped as the film editor, after the latter's demise due to his health problems. The start of the project was postponed until 2016 as Dhanush completed his outstanding projects, with Vetrimaaran revealing that the film would be made in two parts and that the shoot would go on for over three hundred days.^[22][23] In late 2015, the team held talks with Jiiva and Vijay Sethupathi about portraying other pivotal characters in the film, though neither actor immediately signed on.^[24] Lyca Productions announced that they would produce the film in early 2016 and that Vada Chennai would be a trilogy rather than two films. Samuthirakani and Daniel Balaji were subsequently signed on to portray other pivotal roles.^[25] Likewise several actors who have previously worked on Vetrimaaran's films such as Kishore, Karunas and Pawan joined the cast during June 2016.^[26] Before the film's shoot started, Samantha opted out of the film citing scheduling issues caused by the film suddenly becoming a trilogy and was replaced by Amala Paul in the leading female role.^[27] Vijay Sethupathi also agreed to portray an extended cameo in the film, with Dhanush announcing his inclusion during July 2016.^[28] In early 2017, Vijay Sethupathi and Amala Paul opted out of the project owing to a delay in the shoot, with the pair being replaced by Ameer and Aishwarya Rajesh.Before Ameer replaced Vijay Sethupathi, Vijay wasn't too satisfied with the role and had to opt out because of date issues and role satisfication as Vetrimaaran wanted to rope Telugu actor Ravi Teja for the role, as he was impressed with the script and role but couldn't take up the role because of his ongoing Telugu projects.^[29][30][31]

Filming

Production for the film began on 22 June 2016 with the first schedule of the shoot held at Binny Mills in Chennai.^[32][33] The shoot continued throughout mid-2016 in North Chennai for thirty days, with scenes depicting the 1970s shot.^[34][35] The production was briefly delayed as Vetrimaaran sought to get his previous film, Visaranai (2016), ready for the Academy Awards nomination process, which prompted Dhanush to move on to work on his other projects, Pa Paandi (2017) and Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 (2017).^[36] The break between schedules also meant that Vetrimaaran began pre-production work on another film starring G. V. Prakash Kumar, which he would make following the completion of the first part of Vada Chennai.^[37][38]

The second filming schedule began in April 2017 in Royapuram, Chennai.^[39] Shooting ended in February 2018.^[40]