In early 2011, director Bharat Bala read about a 2008 incident involving three immigrant oil workers from India being kidnapped in the Darfur region ofSudan and how they had managed to escape from post being hostages. While improvising his script, the director met the former hostages who were held for 21 days under captivity. In late September 2011, the director narrated the first half of the film script to actor Dhanush and he agreed play the character Mariyaan. During this time, the film maker was done with half of the screenplay. Post his casting in the film, actor Dhanush got involved in character and screenplay related discussions that were carried on for six months.[1] In March 2012, the film and collaborations were officially announced.[6] After a lot of research, the director came up with the film title and stated it is the name of the character. In Tamil it translates to "A man who never dies". As per the film script, it implies that the spirit of the man never dies.[1]
The director opined that the fishing community in southern India goes through terrible hardship and countries like Nigeria, Sudan, Libya borrow them as hard labor. The character played by actor Dhanush is of a simple, economically poor but physically strong guy from a very remote village who was in need of a job and hence, this forms the outline of the film.[1] Parvathi Menon was signed on to play a key role as well as character Mariyaan'slove interest in the film.[7] In an interview to Times of India, Parvathi described her role as unusual and multi-layered, "Female characters usually figure in a movie just as a way of furthering a love story. But my character, Panimalar, is different and that's what attracted me to the role. She plays a love interest but also has so many other layers to her."[8] The director was inspired by the 2008 French-Liberian film Johnny Mad Dog, which starred a real life group of LURD child soldiers and subsequently chose to retain them as well as the cinematographer of that film, Marc Koninckx, both to be a part of Mariyaan.[1]
A press release of March 2013 along with a poster revealed the film's outline as "A young man is faced with adversity. Life deals him immense challenges, and forces him to struggle to thrive. But he does, nevertheless, fighting to survive by thriving on the sheer undying spirit of the human will to survive. Along his thrilling journey is a tryst with adventure, a smattering of drama and a gritty tale that shows the power of love in extreme circumstances. And that is the story of Mariyaan."[9]In an interview with Zee News, Bharatbala quoted, "Even though it (Mariyaan) is about the fight for survival, it deals with several other emotions such as love, separation and struggle. The story recounts a beautiful journey about the separation of the protagonist from his loved ones and his struggle to reunite."[2]
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