Movie Name: Iru Mugan (2016)
Director & Writter: Anand Shankar
Producer: Shibu Thameens
Star: Vikram, Nayantara, Nithya Menen
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Genre: Science Fiction Thriller
Release Date: April 2016
Country: India
Language: Tamil
Story: Iru Mugan is an upcoming Indian Tamil science fiction thriller film written and directed by Anand Shankar. The film features Vikram, Nayantara and Nithya Menen in the lead roles. Having gone through several changes of cast and producers, the film began production in December 2015.
Director Anand Shankar and Vikram were first announced to be collaborating in October 2014, with producer S. Thanu financing the venture. Anand Shankar completed the script throughout early 2015 and toured Malaysia to find locations, while Vikram completed his other projects. Kajal Aggarwal and Priya Anand were signed on to portray the lead actresses, while Manush Nandan and Anirudh Ravichander were approached to be the film's cinematographer and compose the film's music, respectively. The project was titled as Marma Manithan and was reported to begin shooting in Malaysia from June 2015. Instead, production disputes took place during June 2015 after Ayngaran International also announced their interest in producing the film, with Thanu attempting to hand over the rights of the film. Priya Anand also opted out of the film, with Bindu Madhavi announced as her replacement. The ongoing changes subsequently stopped the team beginning their shoot in Malaysia during July 2015 and the production was stalled. The delays meant that Vikram stopped waiting for the makers to begin work, changed his specially-prepared facial hair and went back to add finishing touches to his other ongoing project, 10 Endrathukulla (2015).Ayngaran International backed out of the film in November 2015, prompting Anand Shankar to re-approach different producers to find new funding for the project. Later on in the month, Shibu Thameens agreed to produce the film and announced that the film would finally begin its first schedule in Malaysia during December 2015. The change of producer also meant significant changes were made to the cast and crew of the film, with Kajal Aggarwal dropped for Nayantara. Bindu Madhavi was left out of the new team, while the makers discussed the secondary lead role with actresses Nithya Menen and Parvathy, before Menen was selected. Likewise R. D. Rajasekhar and Suresh Selvarajan were brought on board to handle the film's cinematography and art direction, respectively. Harris Jayaraj was also subsequently confirmed as the film's music composer, and marked a return to signing films after taking a brief sabbatical.
The film was launched in December 2015 and it was revealed that the film would be shot in Chennai, Ladakh, Bangkok and Malaysia. The project was also retitled as Iru Mugan and a first look poster was released in early January 2016. In early 2016, the team shot two schedules in Malaysia and then in Chennai, before Anand Shankar headed to Kashmir to scout for further locations. A third schedule was completed in Chennai during March 2016.