Ullam Ketkumae - Production

Production

The film was first reported in April 2002, where it was revealed that Shaam and Richa Pallod were going to team up with director Jeeva, who had launched Shaam in the critically acclaimed 12B, for a college love story titled Pepsi. The title Pepsi had stemmed from the first letter from the names of the five friends - Priya, Emaan, Pooja, Shyam and Irene. The film was later renamed and the film took the brand Pepsi's tagline in South India - Ullam Ketkumae - as the new title. Asin signed the film aged eighteen and the film was meant to mark her début in Tamil films, but the delay meant that M. Kumaran son of Mahalakshmi released almost a year before this one. while working as a software engineer, Arya was approached by Jeeva to audition for the film in 2003 as the pair had lived in the same neighbourhood and had attended the same local mosque. Arya immediately signed on for the project and was given the stage name of Arya for the film by Jeeva. Pooja was also signed on to make her début and play Irene in the film, although the film's delay meant that several of her other films released before Ullam Ketkumae hit the screens.

Art director Thotta Tharani created a college campus for the film to be shot in, with his work drawing appeciation. A scene featuring an inter college day cultural had 100 students from various states take part in the shooting while decorations and a podium were put up for a marriage scene in Taj Connemara hotel. Raju Sundaram choreographed five songs including a song shot at hot water springs in New Zealand.

The film went through production hell, with three years being spent on the announcement till release. The delay also led to the actors featuring in other projects during the period and Jeeva moving on to direct a Hindi film, Run. Despite giving indications that the film would release after delays on April 14, 2004 it was further pushed back due to financial issues. In May 2005, the Supreme Court finally cleared the decks for the release, as earlier the Madras High court by a February 25 order appointed “Joint Receivers” for the film, which was objected by Prasad Labs who had gone to Supreme Court. It was agreed that the collections from the film will be received by “joint receivers” who will pay Prasad Labs for 72 prints of the film. The film subsequently opened in Tamil Nadu on June 3, 2005.