move on to make another film for his production house, with Dhanush in the lead. Vetrimaaran subsequently contemplated making several different projects with the actor in the lead, before beginning filming for Soodhadhi in March 2014. Months into production, the film was postponed, like Vada Chennai. Development In May 2015, Dhanush revealed that he would produce and feature in Vada Chennai, and that the venture would restart production, in September 2015. Samantha and Andrea Jeremiah were revealed to be among the lead actresses, while Santhosh Narayanan would be the film's composer, after Dhanush had fallen out with G. V. Prakash Kumar. Also, G. B. Venkatesh, who assisted Kishore Te on Visaranai (2016), was roped in as the film editor, after the latter's unfortunate demise, due to his health problems. The start of the project was postponed until 2016, as Dhanush had to complete his outstanding projects, first. In August 2015, Vetrimaaran announced that Vada Chennai will be made into two-parts, citing Anurag Kashyap's advice to split the film into two, similar to his Gangs of Wasseypur films. Dhanush decided to allot more than 200 days for his role, for both the parts. However, with Lyca Productions's inclusion in the project, the film was extended into a trilogy. Unlike his previous films which were inspired by other works, including novels and films, Vada Chennai is an original and fictional representation revolving around gangsters in North Chennai. In late 2015, the team held talks with Jiiva and Vijay Sethupathi, again, for portraying other pivotal characters in the film, though neither of them signed the project. Samuthirakani and Daniel Balaji were subsequently signed on to portray other pivotal roles. Likewise several actors who have previously worked on Vetrimaaran's films such as Kishore, Karunas and Pawan, joined the cast during June 2016. Before the film's shoot started, Samantha opted out of the film citing schedule conflicts, and was replaced by Amala Paul in the lead female role. Vijay Sethupathi also agreed to portray an extended cameo in the film, with Dhanush announcing his inclusion during July 2016. However, owing to a delay in the film's shooting, both Vijay Sethupathi and Amala Paul exited the project, with the pair being replaced by Ameer and Aishwarya Rajesh. Before Sethupathi's replacement with Ameer, it was reported that he left the project due to scripting and call-sheet issues, and Vetrimaaran decided to rope in Telugu actor, Ravi Teja,