Development In September 2011, producer
A. M. Rathnam stated that he would produce
Ajith Kumar's next film after
Billa II, which was touted to begin by December 2011.
Vishnuvardhan, whom Ajith had worked with in
Billa, was the front-runner to direct the film, although certain media sections also suggested that Rathnam may recruit director
Shankar to make a sequel to his 1996 vigilante film
Indian. The claims were refuted by a source close to Ajith. In January 2012, Rathnam informed that he had signed Ajith and director Vishnuvardhan for his next film, while the director himself confirmed later that he was "undoubtedly directing Ajith’s next flick". A
press release published by A. M. Rathnam in May 2012 officially announced the project and listed the cast and crew members. According to the press release, the film would be produced by A. Raghuram on behalf of Sri Satya Sai Movies, while Rathnam would supervise it. Subsequently, speculation arose that Vishnuvardhan may remake his own 2011 Telugu action thriller
Panjaa, or the Bollywood action flick
Race, but the director clarified that he would not remake either film. Writer-duo
Subha joined the team and worked on the script and dialogues. According to a "close source from the production house", a remake of
Race was planned initially, as there was not much time to write a fresh script, but after Subha's entry into the team, the idea was scrapped and work on an original script began, with the writers telling that they took "nearly three months to come out with the sketch". In an early interview during the scripting phase, Vishnuvardhan opened up about the film that he was planning to work "on a drama, more on family action drama". Upon completion of the film, he made clear that the film was not a
gangster film, and labelled it as an "action drama", further adding that it was a "fictional story based on a real incident". Vishnuvardhan also said that work on the story began only after he was signed on to direct a film with Ajith. Ajith continued the "salt and pepper look" from
Mankatha, as he would play a "mature guy", and underwent supervised weight-training, working out at the gym for six hours a day. The actor later disclosed that he played a "mean guy ... a politically incorrect character" while adding that the film would have a "strong social message". Vishuvardhan opened up that Ajith would play an officer in the cyber crime department of the country. Closer to the film's release, the director revealed that Ajith would have "two faces in the film". The film was started without a title and remained untitled for over 15 months, during which it was widely referred to as
Thala 53 in the media, denoting Ajith's 53rd film. A teaser trailer released in May 2013 on
YouTube did not feature a title either. The makers had tossed with the idea of naming the film
Thala, Ajith's nickname, which was refused by the actor, while Vishnuvardhan also requested fans to suggest a suitable title. Several false titles including
Surangani, and
Paravai went around in the media, and in January 2013 "A source in the know" stated that the title was
Valai, after one of the writers, Suresh, had tweeted that the title begins with a 'V'. Although not officially confirmed, the film was henceforth referred to as
Valai by the media. At Anna University's Gateway 2013 Short Film Festival by the Department of Media Sciences in April 2013, Vishnuvardhan revealed that the film was not titled
Valai, adding that two titles were under consideration. On 24 July 2013,
Arrambam was unveiled as the film's official title. The dubbed Telugu version was titled
Aata Arambham.
Casting Vishnuvardhan told that he was looking for an actress who could speak Tamil properly to be cast for the lead female role,
Kajal Aggarwal was also reportedly approached for the lead heroine. Although he wanted a "fresh pairing for Ajith", Several media sections carried reports that Vishnuvardhan's brother
Kreshna would be signed for a parallel role in the film, but the role went to
Arya, who had been part of four Vishnuvardhan directorials. Several sources claimed that Arya may play an antagonistic role, which Vishnuvardhan did not comment on but he informed that Arya's role in the film was that of a
hacker. but was replaced with
Taapsee Pannu, who stated that she played a journalist, a "very lively character, who is always on the go". It was then reported that
Arvind Swamy and
Prithviraj Sukumaran would play pivotal roles, and that Telugu actors
Nagarjuna,
Ravi Teja and
Jagapathi Babu would have cameo appearances in the film; however none of the actors had any roles in the film. By late May, Hindi actor
Mahesh Manjrekar was finalised for the role of a villain in the film, stating that he would be shooting for it from August onwards. The next month,
Suman Ranganathan was cast for the role of Ramya, a "hard-nosed reporter", making a comeback to Tamil cinema after 17 years. Telugu actor
Rana Daggubati was signed to do a "special appearance" in the film, and took part in the shooting in Mumbai; he completed his part in June 2013. It was reported that the
2008 Mumbai attacks would be part of the storyline, which would feature Rana's portion.
Kishore joined the cast in July 2012 to enact an Anti-terrorist squad member, claimed to be a prominent role in the film.
Akshara Gowda stated that she was also part of the film, while Prashant Nair informed that he had a small role in
Valai. Vishnuvardhan's norm composer Yuvan Shankar Raja was recruited to compose the film score. Stephen Richter who was one of the
stunt coordinators in Ajith's
Billa II was hired to choreograph stunts in this film, too. Besides Richter, Lee Whittaker, who has worked in Hollywood films, and Kecha designed several stunts sequences. Sunil Babu was initially called in as the art director but opted out later, with Ilaiyaraja taking his place. Vishnuvardhan's wife Anu Vardhan, who had worked on all of her husband's film, was in charge of costume designing in this film as well.
Nirav Shah was approached to work as the cinematographer,
Filming Principal photography of the film was to begin on Chennai on 31 May 2012, but started with a slight delay on 2 June 2012 with portions involving
Nayanthara and
Arya, while Ajith joined them a day later. The filming was expected to proceed until the end of the month in
Mumbai, but was later cancelled due to monsoon and the location was shifted to
Bangalore. and later in
Hyderabad. On 7 September, during the second schedule,
Taapsee Pannu joined the crew and began shooting her portions. For a fight scene, which was shot between 8 pm and 8 am the next day, Ajith spent several hours hanging upside down. During the next schedule that started on 2 November 2012, filming was held in
Mumbai and its suburban locations. While shooting an action sequence, Ajith injured his leg while jumping from one car to another, suffering a
ligament tear. Despite his injuries, Ajith continued shooting. In late December a short shooting schedule was held in Chennai, during which a fight sequence featuring Ajith and Arya was shot. The team returned to Mumbai a third time for a 15-day schedule on 1 January 2013, with scenes involving Arya, Nayanthara and Taapsee being filmed in the
Bandra area of Mumbai in the first week and Ajith's part in the latter part of the schedule. The crew left for
Dubai on 11 February 2013, where Ajith filmed a boat sequence for the film, which was choreographed by Hollywood stuntman Lee Whittaker. Stills of Ajith riding a
Ducati Diavel in Dubai also circulated in the Internet. In March 2013, Ajith, Arya and Nayanthara shot a
holi song featuring both Tamil and
Hindi lyrics at a studio in Mumbai, which was choreographed by
Dinesh. The crew will be shooting the last schedule in
Jaisalmer in
Rajasthan from 1 May onwards, after which the unit was reported to be moving to
Orissa, where a song and a few scenes were to be shot. It was followed by filming in
Madhya Pradesh,
Mahabaleshwar,
Maharashtra. The climax scenes were filmed by mid-May in
Kullu Manali in
Himachal Pradesh. The schedules were finished in July 2013, following which patch work remained. On 20 August 2013, another schedule was started in Chennai. The entire filming was completed in early October 2013 with the last day shoot held in a Mumbai mall featuring Ajith and Arya. Cinematographer Om Prakash stated that he wanted to give the visuals a "green tint because the colour 'green' is commonly associated with prosperity and knowledge". He also added that some scenes featuring Ajith were intendedly shot so that the audience would see both him and his reflection and that
hand-held cameras were used to shoot those scenes from close "not because it would look fancy, but the script demanded such an approach". Rekhs worked on the subtitles of the film. By September 2013, the actors were
dubbing for their roles in Mumbai. In October 2013, Yuvan Shankar Raja was working on the
re-recording, while
digital intermediate works were in the "final stages". ==Music==