Blessy claims that he has gone through almost 25 years of hibernation for
Pranayam. He says, "For so many years I have been carrying the subject in me as a writer, journeying with it as visuals and words. I have now transferred that to the characters. It's like letting go of something that was your own until now. And that is painful." Blessy had discussed the storyline with writer-director
Lohithadas, during the making of his
Joker, in which he was the associate director. Lohithadas had told Blessy about how he had envisaged Mathews. After
Bhramaram, Blessy had started writing a story based on a few youngsters but didn't feel excited about it after a while as many similar stories were flooding theatres. Suddenly the story of
Pranayam came back into his mind. About the scripting, Blessy says, "The interesting thing about this script is that even before I started writing it, what I had in my mind was its last frame. So I started developing the journey back from the last frame and completed it." P. K. Sajeev and Anne Sajeev are the producers under the banner of Fragrant Nature Film Creations. Aneesh Jacob is the executive producer. The first schedule of shooting started on 16 February 2011 at
Cheranallur in
Kerala.
Mohanlal joined the set on 23 February. The second schedule started on June first week in
Kochi.
Pranayam was shot on locations, including
Ernakulam,
Fort Kochi,
Valinokkam,
Kullu Manali, and
Rewari. Asked about his experience and challenges that he faced while working in an unfamiliar language, Anupam Kher said "Acting in a different language film is like being thrown into a swimming pool without knowing how to swim. Blessy being a good trainer, acting in
Pranayam didn't pose a challenge."
Pranayam's official website was launched by Anupam Kher on 29 August 2011 at a Meet the Press program organised by the Trivandrum Press Club. Some scenes of the song "Paatil Ee Paatil" were shot in the beach area of Kish Islands, Iran. ==Music==