The film stars Dhanush, Vijay Yesudas, and Kajal Aggarwal, while Robo Shankar, Kalloori Vinoth, Kaali Venkat, and Mime Gopi play supporting roles.

Maari is an irritating guy who, along with his henchmen Sanikilamai and Adithangi, constantly pesters the people in the area and extorts money from them.

She goes to the police station and decides to help Arjun catch Maari by getting close to him, pretending to fall in love with him, and incriminating him with evidence of his confession.

He first frees the local people from the extortion by Ravi's gang, while Sridevi apologises to him and also falls in love with him for real.

Finally, Sridevi approaches Maari to confess her love to him, which he rejects, returning to pester the local people and extort them for cash.

The collaboration between Listin Stephen and Radhika's production house and director Balaji Mohan was first revealed in early January 2014, with Dhanush and Kajal Aggarwal being signed on to be a part of the "romantic entertainer".

[3] Mohan wanted the film not to be a bilingual like his previous ventures as he found the process difficult to shoot the same shot twice and to retain the same energy in both of them.

He said in an interview in March 2014 that he narrated a one-liner to Dhanush, on whose consent, he would develop the complete script after releasing Vaayai Moodi Pesavum (2014), adding that this film would "definitely not be a love story".

Prasanna, an assistant of A. Sreekar Prasad, was signed in on as the film's editor while Om Prakash undertook the cinematography.

[3] Sources close to the film's unit said that Dhanush would be seen as a local slum chieftain for which he had to speak in a Madras accent.

[11] Playback singer Vijay Yesudas joined the team in December 2014, making his debut as an actor in Tamil cinema.

[24] NDTV wrote, "A couple of mass moments and some quirky humor apart, there's nothing in Maari to justify the much-anticipated Balaji Mohan- Dhanush collaboration".

[25] Indo-Asian News Service wrote, "the director isn't capable of delivering a wholesome commercial entertainer with some story, some heroism and some cliches a la Dhanush's recent blockbuster Vella Illa Pattathari.

Except for the story, we get everything else from Maari, and that's the smallest concern of the movie", with the critic adding that "Dhanush saves a very ordinary film".

[26] Rediff gave 0.5 out of 5 and wrote, "Uninspiring and predictable, director Balaji Mohan's Maari is just another mass masala movie created to idolise its hero".

[28] Sify gave 1 out of 5 by saying Director Balaji Mohan has made the film with childish punch dialogues, slow-motion shots and an adrenaline flawless background score by Anirudh.

[31] Former health minister and politician Anbumani Ramadoss, criticised Dhanush for portraying on-screen smoking in this film.

[34] Actress Sai Pallavi portrayed the leading lady role, replacing Kajal Aggarwal, who played in the first part.