Following Kaakha Kaakha in 2003, the director Gautham Menon and Suriya expressed their desire to work together on a film.
In early 2005, the pair got together for a film tentatively titled Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam which featured Asin Thottumkal in the lead role and Daniel Balaji in a supporting one.
However, after a photo shoot, the film was delayed and then subsequently called off.
Nevertheless, in 2006, producer Venu Ravichandran signed up the pair for a new film, which they confirmed was not going to be a sequel to their previous venture, and will be a romantic thriller.
Initially titles such as Naan Thaan and Udal Porul Aavi were considered for the project.
The finalised title, Vaaranam Aayiram, was derived from 'Nachiyar Thirumozhi' with the literal meaning of 'the strength of a thousand elephants.'
Gautham received the news of his father's death while he was in a flight in 2007; this incident inspired him to write Vaaranam Aayiram's script in his laptop during the remainder of the flight-time.
Before the start of shooting, the technical crew members were signed up, and the shoot commenced without a leading lady on 24 November 2006 at a nightclub in Chennai.
A portion of the film at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, US.
In November 2007, Gautham Menon decided to send the reels back to Chennai from San Francisco. Two of the production managers were assigned the task of bringing the reels to the producer's office.
The production managers stayed in Singapore for a couple of days before returning to Chennai. Following their arrival, it was understood the reels went missing in the hotel they stayed in.
After a search by the police proved unsuccessful, the team was in a fix as the reels held fight scenes, songs and other scenes worth $500,000.
Soon after, the reels were found with the Singapore airport authorities. The film finished its shoot in August 2008.
A song was filmed by an assistant cameraman with a high-tech camera, costing about Rs. 1.5 crore, fastened to his hip.
While the assistant was moving behind the actors canning the shots, he tripped unexpectedly and the camera broke to pieces. The shot resumed a day later with a similar camera.
Vaaranam Aayiram was believed to be based on the Dutch film by Mike van Diem, Character; others have claimed that it is inspired by the 1994 Hollywood film, Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks.
Gautham too admitted the film draws inspirations from Forrest Gump, but was adapted to suit the Indian audience.
Gautham later described the film as 'autobiographical and a very personal story and if people didn’t know, that 70% of the film is from my life'.
Suriya lost weight without using drugs for the role of the teenager, and then sported a six-pack for the role of the army officer through an eight-month strict fitness regime.
Deepika Padukone was first signed up for playing Meghna. As she was set to make her debut in Tamil films, she backed out due to the delays and signed the Bollywood film, Om Shanti Om.
Andrea Jeremiah, who was first signed up to play Priya, was dropped from the film for unknown reasons
Asin expressed her desire to be a part of the project, but Suriya refuted her offer citing that she had walked out of his previous film, Sillunu Oru Kadhal and refused to act opposite her.
Gautham was very particular about bringing Tabu on board for the role of Malini. Later, Simran was signed up, after Tabu rejected the offer.
The songs from the film's album were released to four leading radio stations in Chennai, with one song per station, in attempt to popularise it five days before the official launch.
This move by Sony BMG was the first of its kind in Indian cinema.
All the lyrics were penned by Thamarai.
The opening and end credits of the movie is in English only, very rare for a Tamil language film. Most Tamil films have Tamil and English opening credits.
After the Visa Interview scene, Surya is seen playing the guitar. His sister asks him from which film the song is from, to which Surya responds that it's his own composition.
Suriya also adds that and that it would take a while for tunes like that to feature in cinema. The tune which he plays is 'Manjal Veyil' from Vettaiyadu Vilayadu (2006), also directed by Gautham.
Varanam Aayiram emerged as the biggest blockbuster for Suriya since Ghajini, grossing 5.66 crore in Chennai alone.
VA's score was composed by Harris Jayaraj, making this his final project with Gautham Menon before the formal break-up of their partnership, until they worked together again in Yennai Arindhaal.
VA won a number of awards, including the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.
Here are a few more pictures and working stills from the film...
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