Atlee Kumar, who has got the opportunity of directing “Vijay” in two consecutive films, praises the actor. Atlee says that when he was working with “S Shankar” in “Nanban,” he know Vijay, very well. On seeing Atlee’s work on the sets, impressed Vijay asked him to make ready a story for him. Atlee was completely blown out by the words of Vijay. However, he wanted to prove himself as a good director, before working with Vijay. As per his wish, he directed Raja Rani with “Arya,” “Nayantara,” Nazriya Nazim and “Jai.” Atlee is in his third film and two of them are with Vijay. Mersal is the ongoing project of Atlee and Vijay. The film has Nithya Menen, SJ Surya, Kajal Aggarwal, “Vadivelu,” Samantha Ruth Prabhu, “Sathyan,” Misha Ghoshal and Yogi Babu. “A R Rahman” composes the music. Thenandal Studio Limited bankrolls the project.