Development Mohanlal announced an untitled film through his
Facebook page on 26 June 2015, to be produced by Sophia Paul for
Weekend Blockbusters, written by M. Sindhuraj, and directed by
Jibu Jacob. At that point, the project was in its initial phase of development and the script was incomplete. The screenplay is loosely based on the
Malayalam short story '"Pranayopanishath" by
V. J. James. According to Sindhuraj he was inspired by the story, but the script is "not a page-to-page adaptation." According to Jacob, only the story's narrative thread has been used. Mohanlal plays a common character — a
panchayat secretary named Ulahannan. "Pranayopanishath" tells the story of a middle-aged couple deciding to rekindle their romance after nineteen mundane years of married life. The film was in development since 2015. Paul had Mohanlal's dates for a project and was looking for a story. After hearing about it, she liked Sindhuraj's story. Mohanlal agreed, and the project was
greenlit. Sindhuraj saw a potential film when he first read "Pranayopanishath" and expressed his interest to James in adapting it into a screenplay. He envisioned a new story background, characters and living conditions, and developed it around Ulahannan and Aaniamma's circumstances. He also prepared the story by incorporating his own
novelette Schoolilekku Poya Penkutty published in
Vanitha. By this time, someone else had bought the film rights from James and drafted a screenplay. Sindhuraj told James that he would step back, but would still like to buy the rights if the other film did not materialise within a given time, which he eventually did. Sindhuraj thought of the film's tagline "My Life is My Wife" during his vacation in
Sri Lanka, where he saw it written on an
auto rickshaw.
M. Jayachandran and
Bijibal were signed as the film's composers, and Pramod K. Pillai as the cinematographer. The film's title was announced in the middle of filming in September 2016. The title
Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol (meaning: When the Grape Vines Sprout) was derived from the verses of the
Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) in the
Hebrew Bible. Paul also cites
Padmarajan's 1986 film
Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal as an inspiration for the title. In a September 2016 interview, Paul described the film as a "fun-filled family drama," and said they were planning for a late-October release.
Casting Ulahannan, the leading character was tailor-made for Mohanlal. As of June 2015, the filmmakers were in the process of casting actors for other roles. In December, Weekend Blockbusters announced that
Meena had been signed for the role. She was cast by Jacob, who had initially thought about casting a newcomer, but later felt Meena was the right choice because of her experience and the good chemistry between her and Mohanlal. They had already collaborated on several successful films. In March 2016, Weekend Blockbusters released a cast list including (apart from Mohanlal and Meena):
Biju Menon,
Nedumudi Venu,
Aju Varghese,
Suraj Venjaramoodu,
Kalabhavan Shajohn, and
Sudheer Karamana. Biju Menon was said to be playing a government employee even though he, Nedumudi Venu and Aju Varghese were not part of the final cast. In June,
Aima Rosmy Sebastian was confirmed in the role of Ulahannan's daughter, Jini, a class 12 student. Aju Varghese first informed her of a potential role in the film while they were working on
Jacobinte Swargarajyam (2016), and asked her to set aside a few months for it. According to Aima, Jini somewhat resembled her, which helped her portray the role. Ulahannan's son Jerry's casting was yet to be finalised as of June. Finally,
Sanoop Santhosh played his seven-year-old son. Anoop Menon plays Venukuttan, a government official, Ulahannan's neighbour and a close confidant; certain of his actions would alter Ulahannan's status quo. The film also revolves around the subplot of Venukuttan and his homemaker wife Latha, played by Arhaan. The couple lives a complete, happy life and shares the neighbourhood with Ulahannan. In August,
Rahul Madhav was confirmed to appear in a cameo role as Ulahannan's brother-in-law.
Neha Saxena was signed to play Julie, a
non-residential Indian girl who becomes a turning-point in Ulahannan's family life. Paul offered her the role after recognising her performance in
Kasaba.
Sharaf U Dheen was also confirmed in August. Manju Sunil played Sicily, an LD clerk in Ulahannan's office, who has a crush on him.
Asha Sarath made a
cameo appearance as Indulekha,
Joy Mathew and
Suresh Krishna also appear in cameo roles.
Filming The film was planned to start production as soon as the script had been finished. Under the
working title Production No:2,
principal photography began on 15 July 2016 in
Kozhikode,
Kerala; a
puja ceremony for the film was held that day. Most of the crew members from Jacob's debut and previous film
Vellimoonga were retained for
Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol. Mohanlal, Meena, Aima, Santhosh, and Madhav were present in the first shot. A fifty-day shoot was planned in Kozhikode. The schedule was expected to break after twenty-five days. The film, which is set in the backdrop of a housing colony, was shot in the Bilathikulam housing colony in Kozhikode. Over eighty percent of the film was shot at Kozhikode. For the housing colony, the team searched across the state for one that is densely populated and found the Kesava Menon Nagar in the
suburb of Bilathikulam in
Nadakkavu, Kozhikode. Another location in Kozhikode was the Chelapram, which was renamed
Keezhattur panchayat in the film. Apart from actors, many of the residents of the Kesava Menon Nagar appear in the film in a song sequence featuring Meena, and contributed to the filming process. Some scenes were shot in Chelambram. A scene was set at a
bus terminus in Kozhikode, but when Mohanlal arrived, a large crowd of spectators gathered and caused a
traffic jam, making it difficult to shoot. It forced them to shift the location, and the scene was later shot surreptitiously with hidden cameras at
Thamarassery, Kozhikode. Madhav shot for four days, The filming continued until a break again during
Onam festival. It was resumed shortly, and expected to be finished by early October. It was completed before October and for the next schedule, the crew moved to
Alappuzha district where, in
Kuttanad, Ulahannan and Annyamma's
ancestral homes are situated in the film. The four-day long shoot in Kuttanad was for a song sequence. Filming in Kuttanad was over by 3 October. Filming next took place at
Nedumudi,
Kainakary, and in
Alappuzha Beach. A song was also shot in
Mankombu and Muppalam,
Alappuzha city. The schedule in Alappuzha district was one week long. After completing the scenes in Kerala, a song sequence remained to be shot outside the state. It was filmed in an outdoor location at
Narkanda in
Shimla,
Himachal Pradesh. ==Soundtrack==