At the JioHotstar South Unbound event, Vijay Sethupathi doubled down on his admiration for Mohanlal. The two actors and Bigg Boss Tamil and Bigg Boss Malayalam hosts were present at the event, where JioHotstar unveiled its upcoming film and series slate. Calling himself "the biggest fan of Mohanlal," Vijay said that he stills keeps the latter's autograph "framed at his office". He added that it was his "great opportunity to praise and felicitate the man I admire the most" before draping a shawl around the legendary actor's shoulders in honour of his recent Dadasaheb Phalke Award win.

Vijay has expressed his love and admiration for Mohanlal on multiple occasion. In a conversation with Film Companion, for example, he called Mohanlal one of his all-time favourite actors, alongside Sivaji Ganesan, Kamal Haasan, and MG Ramachandran. Speaking about the Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner back then, he said, "I do not know how he is performing. He just does it very easily."

While promoting his film Maharaja in Thiruvananthapuram, Vijay said that he also missed an opportunity to act alongside Mohanlal in a film due to his "date issues". The actor met Mohanlal at a hotel he was staying at while shooting for Merry Christmas, met the latter and got his autograph.

Vijay and Mohanlal are set to come back and host another season of the Tamil and Malayalam version of the reality TV show Bigg Boss. Also returning for future Bigg Boss instalments in Telugu and Kannada are Nagarjuna and Kichcha Sudeep, respectively.