Jagame Thandhiram

In April 2016, director Karthik Subbaraj announced that he would make a film starring Dhanush in the lead role,[11] and produced by the actor's home banner Wunderbar Films.[12] The gangster film was initially set in New York, and the makers unsuccessfully approached Hollywood actors Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino about playing a key role in the film during October 2016.[13][14][15] Subbaraj later lamented that the process of reaching out to the actors was difficult, and that it was often difficult to get past casting agents.[16][17] The rights for the film's were later exchanged to Thenandal Studio Limited in April 2017, and the company, opted to prioritise the making of other big-budget films such as Mersal and Sangamithra. The film further delayed after the production house ran into financial problems and exited the project.[18]

In February 2018, S. Sashikanth of YNOT Studios, acquired the rights for the film's production.[19][20] In April 2018, Subbaraj revealed that, he decided to make changes in the story as well as the location settings, in order to reduce the film's production costs.[21] He also added that the film's shooting will take place after his completion of Rajinikanth's Petta as well as Dhanush's commitments in other projects.[22] On 19 July 2019, Sashikanth officially announced the project's launch, titled as #D40 with Subbaraj's regular collaborator, Santhosh Narayanan scoring the music, as well as cinematographer Shreyaas Krishna and editor Vivek Harshan, who worked with the director's previous projects Jigarthanda, Iraivi, Mercury and Petta.[23][24]

While the film was tentatively titled as #D40, there were rumours claiming that the film's title as Suruli or Ulagam Suttrum Vaaliban (referred to the 1975 film of the same name, starring M. G. Ramachandran),[25] whereas Sashikanth claimed that there is no official announcement regarding the film's title.[26] The film's title Jagame Thandhiram was announced during the release of the film's motion poster in 19 February 2020, which being referred to the song "Sambo Siva Sambo", written by Kannadasan, from the 1979 film Ninaithale Inikkum, starring Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.[27]

In an interview with The Times of India, Karthik Subbaraj eventually stated that "The process of finalising an actor in Hollywood is going through an casting agent. Once the casting agent is impressed with the script, the makers need to make an offer and the number of days required for shooting, after which the actor will have three weeks time to accept of reject the offer. Only after the three weeks, can the makers approach another actor."[28] In mid-April 2018, Pierce Brosnan was reported for a role in the film, after Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, but it was later claimed to be false.[28][29]

During the official announcement of the project, it was reported that Malayalam actress Aishwarya Lekshmi will play the female lead,[30] in her second Tamil film, after Vishal's Action (2019).[31] In September 2019, British actor James Cosmo (of Game of Thrones fame), signed in for a pivotal role,[32] in his Indian film debut.[33] Later Joju George,[34] Kalaiyarasan[35][36] and Roman Fiori[37] were also confirmed in the film's cast.

Principal shoot began on 31 August 2019, in Faversham, Kent a village in the south-east of England.[38] The crew filmed for about a week, before the makers planned to shoot the entire stretch of portions in London, within a single schedule of 20 days.[38] However, on 7 November 2019, the makers announced that they have completed the London schedule within 64 days.[39][40] In 9 November, the makers headed to India, to shoot major portions of the film in Madurai and parts of Rajasthan.[41] The entire principal shooting process was wrapped up on 29 December 2019,[42] with Dhanush, stating it as one of his "quickest film in his career" as the film was shot within a span of four months.[43]

The film's post-production process took place in London on January 2020, post the completion of the film's shoot.[44] However, the work was put on hold, as the production house suspended the post production and promotional activities of their projects, due to the COVID-19 pandemic;[45][46] It was later resumed on May 2020, as the Tamil Nadu government granted permission for the film industry to resume post-production works.[47]