In October, popular Tamil-language YouTube channel, Village Cooking Channel team (M. Swathishta Krishnan and Malayalam actor Chemban Vinod Jose, were cast in pivotal roles, the latter in his Tamil film debut. In September, Mynaa Nandhini and Maheshwari Chanakyan were confirmed as the other two actresses. The same month, television actress and one of the constants of Bigg Boss Tamil series, Shivani Narayanan was roped in to play one of the three female leads paired opposite Sethupathi's character.

In August 2021, Andrea Jeremiah hinted her presence working in this film after being associated in Haasan's previous projects. Kalidas Jayaram was approached to be cast in a pivotal role in July 2021, where he essays Haasan's son. Narain who appeared in a pivotal role in Lokesh's Kaithi too signed the project. It was revealed that Arjun Das was approached for a role in the film, in his third consecutive association with the director Lokesh after Kaithi and Master. Antony Varghese who earlier stepped out of the director's previous film Master citing date issues agreed to play an integral part in the film, thus making this his debut in Tamil cinema. In May 2021, Vijay Sethupathi announced his confirmation in the project, collaborating with Lokesh for the second time after Master. The film marked Fahadh's third project in Tamil after Velaikkaran (2017) and Super Deluxe (2019). In April 2021, Fahadh Faasil confirmed his presence in acting in the film, where he will be seen as a politician. Raghava Lawrence was initially approached to play the antagonist in the film during March 2021, however he stepped out of the project due to his prior commitments. This marked the duo's second collaboration with Lokesh after Kaithi (2019), where they received accolades for the stunt sequences. Twin stunt choreographers Anbariv, were announced a part of the film's technical crew. However due to schedule conflicts, Sooryan was replaced by Girish Gangadharan, in his second Tamil film after Sarkar (2018), whose inclusion was later confirmed by Lokesh on July 2021.

Lokesh roped in his norm technicians, cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan and editor Philomin Raj, who previously worked with the director in his projects for the film. In the film, Kamal Haasan was reported to play a police officer and media reports stated that he will don a 'khaki uniform' for this film, after 15 years since the Gautham Menon-directorial Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006). Coinciding with the actor's 66th birthday, 7 November 2020, the makers unveiled the title teaser of the film, featuring Kamal Haasan, in which the title of the film was revealed to be Vikram, a repeat of an earlier film of the same name, starring the actor which was released in 1986.

The team shot for a promotional teaser of the film during October 2020 in Chennai, adhering to the COVID-19 safety regulations suggested by the Indian government. The film's official poster was released on 16 September 2020, which came under the tentative title Evanendru Ninaithaai, a titular song from his film Vishwaroopam (2013), and it features Anirudh Ravichander scoring music for the film, collaborating with Kamal Haasan and Lokesh for the second time after Indian 2 and Master.

In September 2020, Lokesh announced a different project, that would feature Kamal Haasan in the lead role. Despite the progress of discussions, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the launch of the film. The project which was tentatively titled as Thalaivar 169, was scheduled to be launched in March 2020. Lokesh narrated the script of the proposed film to Rajinikanth during December 2019. Despite agreeing terms, both the director and the studio opted to prioritise commitments, for other films before beginning production work. For which he had previously mentioned his admiration of Kamal Haasan's work, noting that two of the actor's films, Sathya (1988) and Virumaandi (2004), had influenced him to become a film director. Lokesh Kanagaraj was signed by Kamal Haasan's production house Raaj Kamal Films International to direct a film for the studio during November 2019.

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