Meanwhile, Anushka was reported to have denied the offer, following which Taapsee Pannu, who was the female lead in Vetrimaran's "Aadukalam", was considered for the prostitute character, Saroja. During the launch of the film then, sources claimed that Anushka, following her refusal, had been roped in by the producers for an item number only, which was specially included for the Tamil version and didn't feature in the original, for which she was supposedly paid an "exorbitant price". However, Anushka dismissed all these reports and eventually confirmed that she would reprise her role from the original, citing that "at no point did I refuse to be a part of this project". Mohan Babu's son Manoj Manchu was also supposed to reprise his original character and enact the rockstar role in "Vaanam", but was forced to opt out, following an accident during the shoot of his Telugu film "Jhummandi Naadam" and had to undergo an operation. He was replaced by Bharath, who was approached by Silambarasan himself for the role and immediately agreed as he loved "Vedam". For the character played by Deeksha Seth in the original, Sneha Ullal was initially roped in. She was to make her Tamil debut with this film and play Silambarasan's love interest. Vega Tamotia was roped in to essay a rock musician, played originally by Lekha Washington, being paired opposite Bharath, while producer Ganesh would appear in a cameo role, too. In September 2010, Sonia Agarwal was also signed up for a pivotal role, returning to acting after four years, replacing Siya Gautham as Zara, the wife of Prakash Raj's character, which she was initially supposed to play in the original version itself, but eventually missed due to personal problems. Compared to the original, however, she cited that she would have more scenes and one "extra song". Prakash Raj himself, would play a Muslim, enacting Manoj Bajpai's role from the original. Noted Telugu actor Ravi Prakash was roped in to play the same role he did in the original version, making his Tamil film debut. However, there was a turn of events in early 2011, as Sneha Ullal, who had already shot for significant portions, was replaced by Delhi-based model Jasmin Bhasin.