in the late 1950s, jupiter somu thought of remaking "kannagi" (1942) with sivaji ganesan as kovalan. he projected the 1942 version to mentor c. n. annadurai who watched it along with sami, who was to direct the second version. after watching the film, annadurai told them that remaking the film would not prove successful. the project was dropped but somu carried in his mind the idea of making something similar about "a woman, who is chastity personified fighting a relentless battle to win her husband back…". the film was titled as "thanga padhumai". writers aru. ramanathan and a. s. a. sami wrote the script inspired from american film "the egyptian" (1954). producers initially approached anjali devi and p. bhanumathi for the character of mayamohini for which they did not agree and finally tr rajakumari was chosen to play the role. a. s. a. sami recalled that during the lunch break, padmini would walk up and down the shooting floor with the script in her hand studying the dialogue over and over and delivering it, giving it different shades of meaning. the film was made in budget of 8 lakhs with sivaji and padmini were paid 60000 while rajakumari was paid 25000 for the film.