Debutant Abishan Jeevinth claims that Kamal's 2000 comedy, Thenali, inspired him to do Tourist Family, starring Sasikumar and Simran. While Tamil cinema rarely makes films about Sri Lankan Tamils, the director explains, "Tourist Family is devoid of the politics of Tamils in the neighbouring country. In fact, the time period we are focusing on is the Sri Lankan economic crisis post-Covid, which has nothing to do with the country's civil war. The film is about the Tamil family fleeing the nation due to the economic tailspin."
On how much the subject was well-researched, he says, "We researched this issue only to the extent of its utility to our script. As I said before, I wanted Tourist Family to be as apolitical as possible. So we had a limit on how much to employ the Sri Lankan economic crisis in the film. It is a feel-good film with a strong emotional core." While it might have been a tough task to separate the politics while also making an emotional film about a family fleeing their country, the director explains, "The emotions that we tried to convey are universal. Tourist Family will make you cry, not out of sorrow but out of joy, all the while being humorous.
Take Mozhi, for instance; it offers chuckles constantly and also makes you tear up in certain scenes. To put it simply, the underlying message of Tourist Family is that whatever goes, comes back. The film will also be high on family values with humour and emotions." On how the casting of the film was decided, Abishan says, "We have often seen Sasikumar sir in a rural backdrop. I was excited to see him in this kind of role. Though we didn't start off with Sasi sir and Simran ma'am onboard. Their casting was a fortunate surprise for us, and it has been a great value addition to our film. We had auditions for both the actors who played the sons. Mithun Jai Shankar is now popular after Aavesham."
In the title teaser, we are shown the family is migrating from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu; Abishan reveals that the film was shot on sets. "We erected a set in Chennai, and we completed the film in a single schedule of just 35 days," he says, adding that there is no clarity yet on the film's release window, but they are planning to bring Tourist Family to theatres in the first half of 2025.
Tourist Family is produced by Pasilian Nazerath, Magesh Raj Pasilian, and Yuvaraj Ganesan under the Million Dollar Studios and MRP Entertainment banners. Apart from the male and female leads, the film also stars Yogi Babu, Mithun Jai Sankar, Kamalesh, MS Bhaskar, Ramesh Thilak, Bucks, Elango Kumaravel, and Sreeja Ravi. The film's technical crew comprises music composer Sean Roldan, cinematographer Aravind Viswanathan, editor Barath Vikraman, art director Raj Kamal, and lyricist Mohan Rajan.