 For Surya's father Krishnan's role, Menon initially approached both Mohanlal and Nana Patekar, but it did not worked out as there was an issue about how they would portray the character's younger age (his twenties) in the flashback scenes and that is when Suriya expressed interest in portraying the character himself.After the cancellation of "Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam", originally starring Surya Sivakumar, Asin Thottumkal and Daniel Balaji, keeping the male leads the same, Gautham Menon wanted to opt for a new heroine to begin "Vaaranam Aayiram".Deepika Padukone was first approached for the role, but she backed out to be part of Bollywood film "Om Shanti Om".