Director N Lingusamy's Sandakozhi not only proved commercially successful at the time of its release in 2005, but it also became a major break for its lead actor Vishal. The film helped establish him as a mass action hero. However, do you know that Lingusamy initially wrote it for Vijay instead? "Producers close to me told me that Lingusamy has this story, and I immediately left for his office. At the time, his film Ji with Ajith was nearing its release," the actor said on his podcast Yours Frankly Vishal.

The actor added that he told Lingusamy about the project he heard about and that he wanted to star in it. However, Lingusamy initially expressed his reluctance to cast the actor in the film, arguing that he wrote it for a "mass hero". Subsequently, Vishal convinced the filmmaker by asking him to watch his upcoming film Chellame and decide on it, a request which the latter agreed to.

Even Vishal's family asked him whether it would be a good idea to do such a big project, declining other offers, as it could mean a major gap between his films. The actor told his family that it was worth waiting for because it was "equal to 10 films". Eventually, Vishal made up his mind, and Lingusamy agreed to do Sandakozhi with him. "We started positively; then, there was no looking back at all."