Vasan wanted to make a film on saint poet Avvaiyar from 1941 and had given instructions to his story department to conduct research on the life and times of the famed poet and work on a draft script. More than two years were invested in the research. Vasan entrusted this job to Tamil scholar Kothamangalam Subbu which resulted in a collections of datas which were either objectionable or controversial. Some scholars even told Subbu that "there was no such person called Avvaiyar! All kinds of people wrote philosophical poems and songs and passed them off as written by Avvai!" However, Vasan and Subbu never gave up and after much effort, a workable script was ready.