Actor Abbas played a small yet important role in director KS Ravikumar's 1999 film Padayappa, opposite Rajinikanth. Ramya Krishnan's Neelambari uses Abbas' Chandru as a pawn to retaliate against the Superstar's titular character in the film. For Abbas, this arc meant a confrontation with Rajinikanth onscreen with some amount of arrogance.

In a recent conversation with CE, Abbas reminisced about shooting the film with the Superstar. The actor said that he did not follow the commentary on social media over his portions in Padayappa where people of previous generations teased the Gen Z for their unawareness of his existence. "My friends and relatives would send me some reference if they see it on social media. I started an account on Instagram only recently. I would watch things on occasion but not regularly. I have come back to social media because of my return into cinema," Abbas said.

The actor also recalled an instance where he asked director KS Ravikumar for the inclusion of a scene in the 1999 film where his character apologises for the arrogant behaviour to Padayappa. "After that scene where my character speaks arrogantly to him, I immediately fell on KS Ravikumar sir's feet and asked him for one more scene with Rajini sir." The actor half-jokingly added that if he had not had the other scene, where Chandru falls on Padayappa's feet, he would have locked his home and left town for fear of backlash from the Superstar's fans. "Thankfully, I got that scene with Rajini sir and managed to avoid that situation," the actor quipped.

Seen recently in Happy Raj, Abbas said that producer RB Choudhary told him to meet director Ravikumar for a role in Padayappa. "I did not have work for eight months back then," the actor candidly admitted.