In 2012, he appeared in S. Shankar's comedy-drama "Nanban" (a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster "3 Idiots"). Jiiva reprised the role of Sharman Joshi in the Tamil version as Sevarkodi Senthil and starred alongside Vijay, and Srikanth. At the cost of 550 million (INR), it was one of the most expensive films to be made at that point, and was released on Pongal in 622 screens worldwide. The movie received highly positive reviews and became a blockbuster. Malathi Rangarajan of "The Hindu" stated, "As for Jiiva, you give him characters with scope and he delivers".