it and loved it too." Janaki Sabesh, who was later known for portraying mother roles, made her acting debut in Minsara Kanavu by playing a nun. S. P. Balasubrahmanyam was chosen to play Thomas' father James. In his obituary published by The Hindu in 2020, Menon said Balasubrahmanyam was "so enthusiastic and joyous on [the] set", noting that it was interesting to see him acting opposite Girish Karnad, who played Priya's father Amalraj. Filming Venu and Ravi K. Chandran did the principal photography on Minsara Kanavu, and Chandran was credited with providing additional cinematography. Asked on his decision to not handle the cinematography, Menon said working as a director and cinematographer simultaneously could make him not "pay attention to both the departments equally". Menon even approached his mentor Ashok Mehta to handle the cinematography, but Mehta could not accept due to other commitments. Saravanan's brother Palu's daughter Lakshmipriya, who had returned from her costume design studies in Singapore, designed the costumes. Thota Tharani finished the art direction, Vikram Dharma was the action director, and Prabhu Deva, Farah Khan, and Saroj Khan did the choreography. Filming took place at Lawrence School, Lovedale; in preparation, Menon interacted with several Christian priests. The song "Thanga Thamarai" was filmed at an artificial waterfall, while the filming for "Poo Pookkum Osai" took place as AVM's studios in Madras (now Chennai) and Ooty, Kullu, and Manali. Filming took between 70 and 75 days, and the footage was edited by Suresh Urs. Soundtrack Minsara Kanavu soundtrack album includes six songs that were composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics by Vairamuthu. Recording of the tracks took place at Panchathan Record Inn. The film used different ragas (melodic modes) throughout the soundtrack, with the choral music being written in Sankarabharanam, and the song "Anbendra Mazhayile in Anandabhairavi. In an interview to Frontline Balasubrahmanyam said of the recording session of "Thanga Thamarai": "[I]t required a tone that reflected the feelings of someone totally smitten and intoxicated by love. The character singing the song in the film is on a high after finding his girl." He said he tried to imitate the composer, who helped to record vocals for the singer. Rahman chose K. S. Chithra for the song "Mana Madurai", which is also known as "Ooh La La La". He advised Chithra not to sing as she usually does but to completely open her voice to sing the track.