Development In late November 2018, actor
Sivakarthikeyan, a long-time friend of director
Vignesh Shivan, was reported to come together with the latter for his next directorial, to be produced by
Lyca Productions. On 21 March 2019, Lyca announced the project under the tentative title
SK17, referring to Sivakarthikeyan's 17th film as a lead actor and added that filming would commence in July, while the film would release in 2020. However, that November, it was reported that Lyca had backed out of the project, feeling the budget was too high for a Sivakarthikeyan film and could not be recovered due to his then nascent market value. A month later, it was reported that Vignesh would produce the film via his own company
Rowdy Pictures after unsuccessful negotiations with other producers, and he would direct Sivakarthikeyan in a different project. Vignesh later revealed that Lyca's concerns over the film's budget were due to its futuristic setting, and he refused their request to change it to present day. In March 2023,
Pradeep Ranganathan was reported to have been approached for the lead role in the revived project. Vignesh confirmed the project on his birthday, 18 September; however, neither the production company nor the cast, barring Pradeep, were revealed. In December, it was revealed that the film would be produced by S. S. Lalit Kumar under
Seven Screen Studio. The company officially announced the project on 14 December, under the title
Love Insurance Corporation (
LIC); a
muhurat puja ceremony was held on the same day. Vignesh and his wife
Nayanthara were involved in co-producing the film with Kumar, for the second time after
Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal. Cinematographer
Ravi Varman and editor
Pradeep E. Ragav were involved as part of the technical crew.
Casting S. J. Suryah and
Yogi Babu were confirmed to be part of the cast from their presence at the muhurat puja in December, while
Krithi Shetty was announced as the lead actress. Besides acting, both Suryah and Pradeep were involved in a 12-hour writing workshop with Vignesh. The film marks
Seeman's return to acting after a hiatus due to his political commitments, as well as
Malavika's return to Tamil cinema after a long hiatus. The name of her character, Vaala Meen, is a callback to the song "Vaala Meenukkum" from
Chithiram Pesuthadi (2006) in which she appears. She dubbed in her own voice for the first time in Tamil. Shetty, a non-Tamil speaker, learned the language from Seeman. Vignesh felt Seeman was perfect as his character, an environmental conservationalist, since Seeman himself was one. He also encouraged Seeman to improvise his dialogues. In February 2024, a promotional skit video released by
influencer Nifya Razul revealed the inclusion of himself and
Shah Ra. Edin Rose was cast as an artificial intelligence, in her Tamil debut.
Gouri G Kishan said she was "underconfident" when Vignesh offered her a role in the film, and that she was "pushed beyond [her] comfort zone". Anirudh, besides composing the film's music, also voices a robot named Bro 9000.
Filming , where the first schedule took place.|150px
Principal photography began with the first schedule on 24 January 2024 at
Isha Yoga in
Coimbatore. Filming also took place at the
Velliangiri Mountains for around a week. The team then moved to
Thirumoorthy Dam in
Udumalaipettai by 3 February to shoot significant portions. The second schedule commenced on 22 March in
Singapore. The team later moved to
Malaysia for filming minor portions. This schedule concluded by 26 March. In December 2024, rumours surfaced that Vignesh and Nayanthara had planned to acquire a government property in
Puducherry after both of them met the
tourism minister K. Lakshminarayanan. Vignesh clarified that his visit was strictly to seek permission for filming a few sequences at the
Pondicherry Airport and dismissed the rumours about him wanting to purchase property. On 11 April 2025, Vignesh announced on his
Instagram handle that filming in Malaysia was nearing completion, with approximately two more days left. Principal photography
wrapped on 14 April, except for a song shoot which took place a few months later, choreographed by
Jani Master, whose participation was announced by Vignesh on 1 July. == Music ==