was shelved after a photo shoot had been held. The following year, he began work on a different gangster film titled Oru Naal Oru Kanavu for Lakshmi Movie Makers with Dhanush and Sonia Agarwal, based on the gang culture of North Chennai. The title was later changed to Pudhupettai (2006), with Sneha also selected to play the role of prostitute. Featuring acclaimed technical work by Yuvan Shankar Raja and Arvind Krishna again, the film told the story of a slum kid's growth into a notorious gangster. Talking about the making of the film, Selvaraghavan called it "an experiment" and stated it had "one of the most complicated screenplays", while revealing he was more nervous with the final product in comparison to his previous ventures. It also became the first Tamil film to be shot in Super 35 mm instead of the Cinemascope format, as well to be released in digital format. The film opened to negative reviews in July 2006, with a reviewer from Sify.com adding it was "heartbreakingly disappointing and is nowhere in the league of his earlier films", citing that it "doesn't unfold quickly and moves at snail pace, puffs and pants with too many characters, subplots and quite long for a gangster genre film". A reviewer from The Hindu also added "Selvaraghavan dishes out a protracted bloodbath and somehow you feel he has let you down", while the critic at Rediff.com stated that "coming from a director like Selvaraghavan, Puthupettai is unbelievable. He loses grip over the plot and the narration goes haywire". It went on to have an average run at the box office despite taking a grand opening, with Selvaraghavan suggesting the excessive bloodshed scenes may have kept family audiences away. Selvaraghavan then moved on to direct a Telugu film which he had committed to make since 2003 with Venkatesh in the leading role. Titled Aadavari Matalaku Arthale Verule, he wrote the script, taking experiences from life experiences of friends who were unemployed graduates, like the film's main character. Featuring an ensemble cast also including Trisha Krishnan, K. Vishwanath, Swati Reddy and Srikanth, the film marked a move away from Selvaraghavan's hard-hitting films and was a simple romantic drama film. Aadavari Matalaku Arthale Verule opened to positive reviews in April 2007, with critics noting: "Selva reads the safe path in AMAV, and is most likely to emerge with a winner." Another reviewer added: "Selva Raghavan