After release of "Aayirathil Oruvan", Selvaraghavan began work on a fantasy romance script titled "Maruvan", which would yet again feature Dhanush and Andrea Jeremiah in the lead roles. Production started in July 2010 and the shoot of the film progressed slowly, with the project undergoing a title change to "Irandam Ulagam". However, the film subsequently ran into trouble after Andrea Jeremiah pulled out of the film, citing differences with the director, and Selvaraghavan chose to shelve the project and begin a new film instead featuring Dhanush and Richa Gangopadhyay. The film began production in May 2011 and the entire filming portions were completed within three months. During production, Selvaraghavan announced he would collaborate with Yuvan Shankar Raja again after G. V. Prakash Kumar became busy, but eventually later changed his mind and retained his original choice. The title was confirmed as "Mayakkam Enna" (2011), and the film depicted the story of an aspiring wildlife photographer and his struggles in life. Selvaraghavan revealed that he drew instances from his and Dhanush's lives and adapted the screenplay to make it applicable to "gen-next" audiences. The film opened in November 2011 to unanimously positive reviews, with a critic from The Hindu noting it is an "electrifying movie that captures the attention of the youth", and that "Selva's narrative style takes the film to a level that caters to all age groups". Sify.com wrote that the film has "simplistic story telling with hard hitting impact" and that ""Mayakkam Enna" will stay with you long after the lights have come back on", while Rediff noted that if Selvaraghavan "had tightened the second half, we would have had a masterpiece on our hands."