Thaanaa Serndha Koottam director Vignesh Shivan says it was challenging to adapt Akshay Kumar-starrer Special 26 for Tamil audiences. "I don't think remakes should be looked down upon. It's a daunting task to create something that interests audiences. And I invested a lot of time and effort to present the film in an entertaining, family-friendly manner. I have not done a frame-by-frame copy. We bought the rights of the film," he said.

The 32-year-old director said the job of adapting the film became easier as he was working with Suriya. "Suriya sir is an absolute delight to work with. He is a director's artiste. I have received overwhelming responses for Suriya sir's makeover in the film," Shivan said in an interview. Shivan said he loves capturing spontaneous moments of
his actors on sets rather than restricting himself to the dialogue sheet.