Jilla was Vijay's Gift to Nesan

At time when the leading directors of kollywood are trying their utmost to sign Ilayathalapathy Vijay, it came as big surprise when Vijay choose a debutante director for his Jilla movie. But here is how Nesan bagged that golden opportunity.

Vijay has a habit of usually rewarding the technicians and crew on the last day of the shooting schedule, and so, On Velayadhum's last day of shoot, there was huge suspense on the sets to what gift Vijay was gonna give, unable to bare the surprise Director Jeyam Raja went out to Vijay asked atleast tell me what surprise your gonna give these Assistant directors ? Vijay replied with a smile stating even you wouldn't have expected this surprise. 

And Finally when the shooting schedule was done, Vijay called all the 7 assistant directors and said 'I'm gonna ask everyone of you to tell me a story , and to the story i like, i'm gonna give my dates this year itself'. The Story can even be in one line , if your are not ready to direct the story now , you may take your time and get prepared and direct me , but i have to like the story , that's what matters".

And eventually after one week , after hearing out everyone's story , Vijay selected Nesan, the Debutante Director who's currently busy in the pre-production works of Jilla.