Thotta Chinungi, a relationship drama featuring an ensemble cast of Raghuvaran, Karthik, Revathi, Devayani, Rohini and Nagendra Prasad, won critical acclaim and performed well at the box office.

He then featured as an actor in Thalaimurai (1998) directed by Saravana Pandian and won acclaim for his performance, while making another family drama titled Swarnamukhi which had Parthiban and Prakash Raj in leading roles.

The film languished in development hell and was eventually released in 2002 as Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam earning mixed reviews and below average collections, with a critic noting Adhiyaman's "overly simplistic direction lacks both pace and creativity.

[15] He then announced that he was set to remake the Malayalam film Chinthamani Kolacase with Sunny Deol in Hindi as Judgement and would incorporate real life events of the death of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar into the script.

Udhayanidhi Stalin subsequently announced his retirement from films, citing that Maamannan (2023) would be his final release, and refused to cooperate with the producers to complete the project.