Swati Reddy signed on as the female lead with Ismail Merchant as music director. Filming continued in caves near the Himalayas with the team facing trouble with the freezing weather conditions, while Selvaraghavan announced that the next schedule would be held abroad in the United States. However, in February 2010, the film was momentarily shelved and the project subsequently never took off again after the producer Singanamala Ramesh walked out. Soon after in June 2010, another project announced by Selvaraghavan, a bilingual featuring Rana Daggubati set in 50 BC, was also postponed after the pair felt it was too early to work on the film. Likewise, another proposed project for producer Ramesh Babu titled Pei Ottum Nilayam, featuring the producer's son Santhosh Ramesh, failed to materialise. In early 2011, Kamal Haasan agreed terms with Selvaraghavan to be the director of the actor's venture Vishwaroopam. Months into the collaboration, he was ousted from the project, with Kamal Haasan unhappy at the director's commitment to the project. Selvaraghavan later noted that he expected creative control of the project, which Kamal Haasan was unwilling to offer him. After release of Aayirathil Oruvan, Selvaraghavan began work on a fantasy romance script titled Maruvan, which would yet again feature Dhanush and Andrea Jeremiah in the lead roles. Production started in July 2010 and the shoot of the film progressed slowly, with the project undergoing a title change to Irandam Ulagam. However, the film subsequently ran into trouble after Andrea Jeremiah pulled out of the film, citing differences with the director, and Selvaraghavan chose to shelve the project and begin a new film instead featuring Dhanush and Richa Gangopadhyay. The film began production in May 2011 and the entire filming portions were completed within three months. During production, Selvaraghavan announced he would collaborate with Yuvan Shankar Raja again after G. V. Prakash Kumar became busy, but eventually later changed his mind and retained his original choice. The title was confirmed as Mayakkam Enna (2011), and the film depicted the story of an aspiring wildlife photographer and his struggles in life. Selvaraghavan revealed that he drew instances from his and Dhanush's lives and adapted the screenplay to make it applicable to "gen-next" audiences. The film opened in November 2011 to unanimously positive reviews, with a critic from The Hindu noting it is an "electrifying movie that captures the attention of the youth", and that "Selva's narrative style