The film stars Vishal in the titular role, alongside Santhanam, Anjali, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Sonu Sood, Manivannan, Subbaraju, Nithin Sathya, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Munna Simon and John Kokken.

After having been delayed for over 12 years due to legal and financial troubles, Madha Gaja Raja released worldwide on 12 January 2025, during the Pongal weekend and received positive reviews.

Dhandapani is thrilled to reunite with his estranged brother-in-law Pedha Perumal, by accepting his son as the groom for his daughter, who is actually in love with her cousin.

This, he believes, is revenge by Karukuvel Vishwanath, a powerful media baron, for sealing his pharmaceutical company, which produced drugs that killed 18 children.

The insurance claim money he received barely covered the damages to a nearby pharmaceutical company, which Ramesh had previously sealed.

[4] After denying reports that the female lead role was first offered to Shruti Haasan, Sundar hinted that they were set to sign on Hansika Motwani, but her busy schedule left her unavailable to commit dates for the project.

[5][6] Titled Madha Gaja Raja, after Vishal's three characters, Karthika Nair eventually joined the team to portray the role during April 2012.

[7] The film subsequently began production in Chennai during early May 2012, with a song shot featuring Vishal alongside Sadha, who was revealed to be making an appearance in an item number.

Disappointed with this development, Nair left the project stating that the role of the lead actress had been significantly diminished as a result of the change of story.

[10] Taapsee Pannu signed on to replace her, but soon afterwards left the project citing date clashes with her commitments for the promotional activity of her Hindi film.

[11] Varalaxmi Sarathkumar was consequently signed on after working with producers Gemini Film Circuit in their previous venture Podaa Podi (2012), while Anjali was selected for the main female lead role.

[20][21] Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog said, "Chikku bukku could well be a standard Ilayaraja song but for the gibberish and guitar that Vijay Antony inserts at places – folksy and catchy".

Karthik described "Nee Dhana" as "standard techno", but appreciated "Sattru Mun Varai" for Santhosh Hariharan's vocals, even if the song was "regimental stuff".

He added, "Thumbakki thumbai is a curious combination of interesting, meaningless words and exotic sounds – manages to stand out" and concluded that the album was "Standard masala fare".

[23] After nine months of little information about the project, the producers announced their intentions of releasing the film on 9 September 2013 to coincide with the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.

[24][25] However the plans were put on hold after an Australian national, Santhanam, successfully appealed for a court injunction to stop the film's release in September 2013.

He claimed that Gemini Film Circuit had agreed to pay him a sum of six million rupees for his services of providing production facilities during the team's schedule in Australia, but had failed to make the payment.

[36] Avinash Ramachandran of The Indian Express gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "The laughs keep on coming, and it is a terrific mix of nostalgia and wistful thinking about the times that were that makes us throw our weights behind this Vishal-Santhanam film, directed by Sundar C."[37] Janani K of India Today gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Madha Gaja Raja, even though outdated and politically incorrect, manages to bring much-needed laughs as it reminds you of the good old days when all you needed was a comedy film to unwind.

"[39] Sreejith Mullappilly of Cinema Express gave 2/5 stars and wrote "there is inarguably an entertaining first half in Madha Gaja Raja, with Santhanam delivering some big laughs amidst the duds [...] Vishal has done many sequences, actions and others, that are all about flaunting his stardom.

"[40] Bhuvanesh Chandar of The Hindu wrote, "perhaps most of what glitters about Madha Gaja Raja isn't the film itself, but the mindless fun of watching something that as a whole could only exist in your past.