Hegde allotted 50 days for her role, and a remuneration of в‚№3.5 crore was offered to her. The film marks her return to Tamil cinema after a decade, following her debut in the film industry with Mugamoodi (2012). Her inclusion in the project was confirmed by Sun Pictures in an announcement video released on 24 March 2021. In January 2021, Pooja Hegde was reported to be the lead actress, and hinted her inclusion in an online interview in February 2021. In October 2021, Sivakarthikeyan, who worked in Nelson's Doctor, revealed the plot during the film's promotions, saying that the film is centred on gold-smuggling. While the film was launched under the tentative title Thalapathy 65, the film's title Beast was announced on 21 June 2021, on the eve of Vijay's birthday. Vijay was reported to play a con agent in the film, which will be characterised as a 'sharp and humorous one'. During that period, he simultaneously began location scouting for the film and shared a few pictures from Russia through his Instagram page. Nelson had parallelly worked on the film's script along with the post-production works of Doctor as the final script was to be drafted. Speaking about the stunt choreography, Anbariv said that the film would have 'extraordinary' stunt sequences similar to those in K.G.F: Chapter 1 (2018). Nirmal, who worked with Nelson in Kolamavu Kokila and Doctor was announced as the film editor. Manoj and Anbariv who were earlier a part of Murugadoss' proposed project with Vijay were retained for this film. It was reported that Nelson had planned to revive his shelved project Vettai Mannan, which had Silambarasan playing the lead, and also re-written the script partially. On 10 December 2020, Sun Pictures officially announced that Thalapathy 65 will be directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, and Anirudh Ravichander was also brought on board to score music this project marked Anirudh's third collaboration with Vijay and Nelson after their respective films, Kaththi (2014) and Master, Kolamavu Kokila (2018) and Doctor (2021). Suryah, Nelson Dilipkumar and Magizh Thirumeni on board to direct the project, with Nelson being insisted by Anirudh Ravichander, who worked with Vijay in Master, to direct the film. But as Murugadoss refused his demands, Sun Pictures ousted him from the project in October 2020. Maran insisted Murugadoss to reduce his salary post the failure of his previous directorial, Darbar (2020). Vijay was initially said to receive в‚№100 crore as a remuneration for the project, but due to the financial constraints owing to the pandemic situation he decided to waive off 30% from his salary, thus getting в‚№70 crore as remuneration. Manoj Paramahamsa was announced as the cinematographer in September 2020. Selvaraj also joined the project in August 2020. The team further brought the stunt choreographer duo Anbariv on board, which marked their first collaboration with Vijay, and screenwriter R. In an interview, Murugadoss stated that the script was not a sequel to any of his previous films, but an original one. Following his approval, the team reported in mid-August 2020 that Thalapathy 65 will enter production soon, with an official announcement on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi (22 August 2020), which did not happen. Murugadoss narrated the final script to Vijay in early August 2020.

The script was reported to have Vijay in dual roles. In August 2020, Tamannaah was approached to be the lead actress, collaborating with Vijay after ten years since Sura. Thaman was finalised to compose the music in May 2020, in what would have been his first collaboration with the actor. The project was reported to enter production by April 2020 end, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 lockdown in India. Ajay Gnanamuthu were initially reported to direct the film, in March 2020, a source claimed that AR Murugadoss had planned to direct Vijay in the tentatively titled Thalapathy 65 (Vijay's 65th film as lead actor). In January 2020, during the production of Master (2021), Vijay was reportedly signed for his next project backed by Kalanithi Maran's Sun Pictures, collaborating with the actor after Vettaikaran (2009), Sura (2010) and Sarkar (2018).

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