Pre-production In October 2013, producer
A. M. Rathnam signed up
Ajith Kumar for another film following their collaboration in
Arrambam (2013). Initially, the producers approached director
Gautham Vasudev Menon to direct the Tamil remake of
Race 2 (2013) but Menon was not interested in the remake and came up with an original storyline which later became Yennai Arindhaal.
Development Shridhar Raghavan, who wrote the script for the
Bollywood film,
Dum Maaro Dum (2011), was also signed by the team to assist Gautham Menon with film's script.
Thiagarajan Kumararaja is also credited for the screenplay.
Harris Jayaraj was signed on as composer, despite early speculations that
A. R. Rahman would work on the film.
Anirudh Ravichander had hinted about himself working in the film, but his inclusion remained unconfirmed and ultimately proved to be untrue.
Australia-based cinematographer
Dan Macarthur was selected to do the film's cinematography. On 29 October 2014, Suresh Chandra, Ajith's agent, confirmed the title for the film to be (
Well, if you know me...). The title of the dubbed Telugu version was announced as
Entha Vaadu Gani (
No matter how strong the opponent is...) along with a few poster designs on 23 November 2014.
Casting Anushka Shetty was signed on by the team to play the main lead, despite early suggestions that
Amy Jackson had been selected for the film. Prior to the official announcement of the cast, several actors were linked to portray the role of the antagonist in the film, including
Karthik and
Prashanth. Actors
Aadhi,
Arun Vijay, and
Arvind Swamy were also reported to be part of the cast, though the latter denied signing the film. Aadhi also clarified on not acting in the film. In mid-April 2014, Arun Vijay was confirmed to portray the film's antagonist and had started filming his portions. On 18 April 2014, comedian
Vivek joined the cast, collaborating with Gautham Menon after the director's first venture
Minnale (2001). Bangalore-based
Amit Bhargav was selected to play the role of Anushka's beau in the film.
Trisha was officially cast as another lead of the film, collaborating with Gautham Menon for the second time after
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010). Her role was later confirmed as the love interest of Ajith's character. Actor
Arun Vijay was chosen to play a supporting role. Ajith's salary was reported to be around for the film.
Parvathy Nair was cast in a role paired opposite Arun Vijay, making this film the second she signed in Tamil, after the later-released
Uttama Villain.
Daniel Balaji played a cameo, thus becoming a part of all films in Gautham Menon's cop trilogy.
Nassar made a cameo appearance as the father of Ajith's character. As per his statement, Menon later said that Ajith would appear in four different looks in the film, and Anushka would portray an IT professional in the film. Trisha said that her portion in the film would have a more intense love story than her last outing with Gautham Menon,
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010). For Trisha's character of Hemanika, stylist
Uthara Menon made dresses out of Kanchi cottons and used retro brocade for her dance costumes, while basing her look on actress
Shobana. She further said that though Ajith had been playing commercial films off late, this film would show him in a radical avatar that she herself would love to see him in. It was confirmed that Ajith would be sporting black hair, a thick moustache and a slimmer look in the portions involving Baby Anikha and Trisha, whereas he would appear in his natural grey hair style in the portions involving Anushka. According to sources, Ajith would be seen riding a
Bullet Bike in the film. Stills featuring Ajith sporting a bearded look were released in early October 2014. In November 2014, Vivek confirmed that his character — a police officer — would be a rather serious character with only a subtle sense of humour.
Filming A. M. Rathnam issued an official statement confirming that the film would be launched on 9 April 2014, and a ceremony was thereafter held to mark the beginning of the project. The first filming schedule subsequently began on 11 April 2014 near the
VGP Universal Kingdom theme park near
Chennai. The first schedule was completed after 12 days of shooting in Chennai, during which an action sequence was filmed. The second schedule began shooting on 14 May 2014. A lot of nighttime shooting was said to have taken place in the film, especially on
Mount Road. Shooting also took place in
Malaysia. Dan Macarthur confirmed that the second schedule was completed by the end of May 2014. A wedlock scene between Ajith and Trisha was canned in the last week of July 2014. Shooting continued in
Chennai along the
ECR stretch up to the first week of August, during which the portions involving Baby Ankitha were completed. In the second week of August 2014, about 75% of the filming was reported to be completed and a few scenes, including a train sequence, were shot in
Hyderabad. A scene featuring Ajith and Trisha and background artists was filmed in a theatre. Filming moved to
Rajasthan where a song sequence was shot in segments in
Jaipur,
Jodhpur and
Jaisalmer for 10 days. A romantic song, "Mazhai Vara Pogudhae", which featured Ajith, was shot in September 2014. The final schedule of filming began at Hyderabad again, where filming continued for 15 days. By late November, the shoots of all the songs have been done, and a fight sequence was shot in Binny Mills in Meenambakkam, Chennai. A solo song with Trisha was also completed. In early December, shooting of the climax chase sequence was done in guerrilla filmmaking mode in some busy roads of Chennai without the knowledge of the public. Shooting of the climax fight sequences began on 8 December 2014. A few key scenes were shot at Hyderabad Railway Station in mid-December 2014. Later, a few patchwork scenes were shot at Chennai for three days with which principal photography came to an end. The film was shot entirely on the
Arri Alexa digital motion picture camera system. ==Themes and influences==