Nanban is a Tamil comedy drama film directed by S. Shankar. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Vijay, Jeeva, Srikanth, Ileana D'Cruz and Sathyaraj. The soundtrack and background score is by Harris Jayaraj, working with Shankar for the second time after Anniyan (2005). 

Filming began in March 2011 following a lengthy delay in casting. It is a remake of the 2009 Bollywood blockbuster film 3 Idiots, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, which was adapted from the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. The film will be dubbed into Telugu.

Following Gemini Film Circuit's purchase of the remake rights for 3 Idiots in January 2010, there was much speculation in regard to the three title roles essayed by Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi in the original. Gemini Film Circuit approached noted directors S. Shankar, Vishnuvardhan and S. Dharani to replace Rajkumar Hirani as the director, with the approval from Shankar leading to him being signed.  Despite speculation that he was set to pull out from directing his first remake as it would be a step down from his previous film, Enthiran, Shankar stated his commitment in October 2010.  As Shankar's norm music director, A. R. Rahman couldn't be retained for the project due to his busy schedules, Harris Jayaraj and Yuvan Shankar Raja were approached to compose the soundtrack,  with Shankar settling for the former with whom he had worked with in the 2005 action film Anniyan earlier.  Meanwhile, Manoj Paramahamsa, whose work in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Eeram had been critically acclaimed, was signed on as the cinematographer. 

For the lead role enacted by Aamir Khan, initial reports suggested that Suriya was the front runner, who however dismissed the link citing that his commitments had left him busy.  A special screening for the film industry also included Vijay, who expressed his desire to work in the film, and was subsequently signed up by Gemini Film Circuits to portray the lead role.  However, by mid-December 2010, soon after trial shoots were held, Vijay walked out the film following disputes over his dates, with Surya being labelled as his likely replacement.  Reports claimed that talks with Surya failed, since the actor had demanded salary increase and dubbing rights for the Telugu-version of the film.  Surya's reasons for refusing the offer was later confirmed not to be true, with Surya himself revealing that he had opted out only because of other film commitments and "did not want to keep Shankar waiting".  As a result, Vijay was once again finalized for the role.