Despite its launch in early 2000, the film went through production troubles and released nearly two years after the launch. A host of Prashanth starrers which were launched after "Virumbugiren" such as "Star", "Chocolate" and "Majunu" were subsequently released earlier. Sneha, for whom "Virumbugiren" was the first film she signed, was reported to be amongst the reasons for the delay after her popularity created problems in her call schedules. The producer of the film had to approach Vijayakanth, the president of the actor's association (Nadigar Sangam) and Sarath Kumar, also an office bearer, to intervene and resolve the dispute. Similarly Susi Ganesan also completed and released another film, "Five Star", in between the production delays.