Development In January 2002, it was announced that Shankar would make a film titled
Boys featuring newcomers. He had postponed the making of
Robot starring
Kamal Haasan and
Preity Zinta to start this film, with the announcement prompting thousands of applications from youngsters who wanted to feature in it. Shankar opted to introduce five debutants to play the lead characters and held auditions in 2002, with over 500 applicants being video tested.
Siddharth had initially worked as an assistant director to
Mani Ratnam in
Kannathil Muthamittal, and the script writer of that film,
Sujatha was insistent that Siddharth audition for
Boys. After consulting with Mani Ratnam, he met Shankar, auditioned, and got the role of Munna. Shankar had seen
Bharath at a dance programme, Inspirations at the Music Academy by 'Swingers', and called him to appear in screen tests that included delivering dialogues and dancing before selecting him to do the role of Bob Galy. Bharath was initially earmarked to play the lead role in the film before the team found Siddharth.
Nakul, brother of actress
Devayani, was a second-year college student who was also chosen. His family had sent some pictures of Nakul's elder brother Mayur to Shankar's office and, after seeing Nakul in one of the pictures, Shankar approached him.
Manikandan, a visual communications graduate who had featured in Kala master's dance troupe doing stage shows, was also selected. Her voice was dubbed by
Rathi of
Solla Marandha Kadhai. While finalising the lead cast, Shankar had also approached
Bhagyaraj's son
Shanthanu and
Sarathkumar's daughter
Varalaxmi, but their respective fathers turned down the opportunities.
Ravi K. Chandran was the principal director of photography; he introduced the linking of 62 cameras for the first time and the use of time-freeze technology in
Boys. Cinematographers
K. V. Anand and
V. Manikandan were credited for filming two songs, while directors
Gandhi Krishna and
Balaji Sakthivel were a part of Shankar's assistant team.
Filming Boys was launched at the Kalaivaanar Arangam in
Chennai with
Rajinikanth attending the event as the chief guest of the function and the new cast was introduced to the media. Filming began later that day, and two days later a teaser trailer of the film was broadcast on television. The song "Ale Ale" was picturised at the Bridestowe Estate Lavender Farm in
Scottsdale, Tasmania, Australia where cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran linked 62 cameras, using a new 'time-freeze' technique with the help of Australian cinematographer Mark Ruff's rig. Mark Kobe, who had been a part of the teams of
Godzilla and
Independence Day, carried out the computer graphic effects for
Boys and created a 3D female to feature in the song "Girlfriend". Another song, "Dating", was shot at a set created by
Sabu Cyril on the Chennai seashore where he created a seaside swimming pool, restaurant, water volleyball, and discothèque for the song sequence. For "Boom Boom", Cyril made a set out of waste materials like steel, tin sheets, bottles, used cans of Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Dalda (oil) and wood waste to create the backdrop, whilst the actors in the song were dressed by designer Arjun Fazil in matchsticks, film rolls, videotape, and crisps covers. "Maro Maro" was picturised on 500 young dancers at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, while for "Secret of Success", the team were given permission to use the MTV logo as the scene saw the band performing at the MTV Awards. The background score for both these songs were sung by Gulzar, Sherefa, Ranya and Sameera. ==Soundtrack==