Kushi was SJ Suriyah's second directorial after the critically-acclaimed Vaali.
Rathnam offered SJ Surya an opportunity to direct his next venture with Vijay after being impressed with Vaali's scriptSimran first was offered the role, but later replaced by Jyothika because of scheduling conflicts.Vijay, who began shooting for Kushi during the same time he was shooting for Fazil's Kannukkul Nilavu, revealed that it was hard to shift between the two contrasting characters he was portraying.While there were early rumours about the film being centred around a controversial relationship, AM Rathnam rubbished the rumours claiming that the film would be a clean romantic comedy.The film was initially scheduled to be released on April 14, 2000 but was pushed back to accommodate the release of biggies such as Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey and Rajiv Menon's Kandukukondein.Jyothika went on to win the Filmfare Best Actress Award in Tamil for her performance in the film.Deva won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director in 2000 for Kushi along with his work in Uyirile Kalanthathu and Sandhitha Velai.In 2001, AM Rathnam resigned Suryah to direct the Telugu version of the film, also titled Kushi. The film starring Pawan Kalyan and Bhumika Chawla also won positive reviews and was a success at the BOSurya also directed the Hindi version of the film in 2003 as Khushi for producer Boney Kapoor, with Fardeen Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles.The success of the lead pair's chemistry prompted Vijay and Jyothika to team up again in 2003 for Thirumalai.Vijay and SJ Suryah briefly reunited for a project titled Puli in 2005, before Vijay opted out of the film for unknown reasons.In an interview prior to the release of Anbe Aaruyire (2005), Surya revealed that AA was 'like a sequel to Kushi'.The song 'Mottu Ondru' was based on 'Why You Wanna Trip on Me' by Michael Jackson.'Oh Vennila' is based on the Portuguese song 'Canção do Mar' sung by Dulce Pontes for Primal Fear (1996).Shilpa Shetty made a special appearance in the song 'Macarena'Kushi had cinematography by the late director Jeeva.Here a few more rare pictures, working stills, and paper ads from the film...