Ratnam subsequently met several producers. The script was rejected by over twenty studios, including Rajkannu of Sri Amman Creations and Gowri Shankar of Devi Films. Subsequently, Ratnam's uncle Krishnamurthy and T. Govindarajan of Venus Films agreed to finance the film under the condition that he made it as a low-budget Kannada film. While P. C. Sreeram was his original choice for cinematography, the producers insisted on an established cinematographer. Ratnam then approached Balu Mahendra. Ratnam also convinced B. Lenin (who was incidentally his neighbour), to work as the editor, since he had been impressed with his editing of Mahendran's "Uthiripookkal" (1979). Thota Tharani who happened to meet Ratnam during the shoot of "Raja Paarvai", which the director had gone to watch, joined the team next.