n 1958, M. G. Ramachandran announced Ponniyin Selvan, a film adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy's historical novel of the same name. Ramachandran bought the film rights to the novel for ₹10,000 (equivalent to ₹810,000 or US$10,000 in 2020), and would produce, direct and star in the adaptation, which would feature an ensemble cast including Vyjayanthimala, Gemini Ganesan, Padmini, Savitri, B. Saroja Devi, M. N. Rajam, T. S. Balaiah, M. N. Nambiar, O. A. K. Thevar and V. Nagaiah. Before shooting could begin, Ramachandran met with an accident, and the wound took six months to heal; Ramachandran was unable to continue with the film even after renewing the rights four years later.

In a January 1994 interview with Filmfare, Mani Ratnam stated that adapting the novel was one of his "dream projects" that he had hoped to work on during his career. Ratnam revealed that he worked on a first draft of the film alongside actor-director Kamal Haasan, who had bought the rights of the novel, but the pair shelved their plan as the project did not make financial sense at the time.

In late 2010, Ratnam renewed his interest in the project and worked alongside writer Jeyamohan to finalise the script for the film adaptation of Ponniyin Selvan. Expected to be made in the Tamil at a cost of ₹100 crores, Ratnam planned to produce the film himself initially, with the intention of teaming up with a bigger production house later on in the film-making process.[35] Technicians including composer A. R. Rahman, cinematographer Santosh Sivan, editor A. Sreekar Prasad and art director Sabu Cyril were soon after attached to the project.

Ratnam cast Vijay in the leading role of Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan. After signing the film, Vijay called it a "privilege" and a "dream come true" to be working with Ratnam for the second time after Nerrukku Ner (1997). Mahesh Babu was cast as Arulmozhi Varman, who later becomes the Chola emperor Rajaraja I in the project, and also expressed his delight at being selected by Ratnam. Arya also joined the project to play a third leading male role after the script was narrated to him. Meanwhile, Sathyaraj was signed to play a supporting role in the film. During the course of the casting process, Ratnam had also considered other actors including Vikram, Suriya and Vishal but they eventually did not make the final cast.[40] For the leading female roles, after considering Jyothika, the team finalised Anushka Shetty for a role and held discussions with Priyanka Chopra in regard to other characters.

Seven days before the scheduled start of the shoot, a photoshoot for the film was held in Chennai featuring Vijay and Mahesh Babu. For the shoot, the team sought permission from the officials of Mysore Palace and Lalitha Mahal to film sequences. However, their requests were denied with palace officials keen to keep film crews away from the historic locations.[46] The film was later shelved before the start of the filming stage, as the expected cost of production escalated. Jeyamohan stated that the film did not materialise as the team struggled to find available locations to shoot the film. He revealed that temple officials in Tamil Nadu refused to allow the team to film scenes on the premises and that the expensive cost of producing replica sets meant that it would not be a viable solution.

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