Shukla was initially hesitant, since he wrote films he could direct.[5][14] He went to Varma's office to decline, but the director told him that he wanted to cast him in the film and outlined the plot.[14] Shukla then agreed to do the film, since he was "stuck" with the narration.[7] They went to Varma's farmhouse in Hyderabad and wrote the first draft in a week without doing research, since Kashyap felt that a gangster's psychology is "very similar to anybody else".[15][16] Bajpayee had never met any gangster in his life and was not good in speaking Marathi language, although he was playing a Marathi character.