In March 1999, Susi Ganeshan was able to convince producer Shanti Thiagarajan to fund his first feature film, after he left Mani Ratnam's team of assistant directors.

[3] The project, Virumbugiren, was launched at Hotel Chola Sheraton, Chennai on 19 January 2000 with Susi Ganeshan, an erstwhile assistant of Mani Ratnam being introduced as a director.

It was announced that the film would have cinematography by K. V. Anand, music by Deva, lyrics by Vairamuthu, art by Thota Tharani editing by Suresh Urs and special effects by Venki; and it would be produced by Vandana Bhatt and Mary Francis under the banner of V.M.

The event was compered by Uma Padmanabhan, while attendees included Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam and Prabhu Deva.

[8][9] Sneha, for whom Virumbugiren was the first film she signed, was reported to be amongst the reasons for the delay after her popularity created problems in her call schedules.

The producer of the film had to approach Vijayakanth, the president of the actor's association (Nadigar Sangam) and Sarath Kumar, also an office bearer, to intervene and resolve the dispute.

[11] Sify.com praised the film labelling that "Prashanth is top class", "Sneha steals some of the scenes with a larkish spontaneity and vivacity", while that director Susi Ganesan who has written the story and screenplay has done a neat job.

[3] Chennai Online wrote "The scripting and narration move smoothly, and the director has tried to infuse some realism within the framework of commercial cinema.