Thalapathy Vijay's major turning point in his career came in the year 1996 with 'Poove Unakkaga' an intense love story that took him to all class audiences. The director of the blockbuster, Vikraman has shared in an interview to a leading Tamil weekly how Vijay was not the first choice for the film.

According to Vikraman, producer R.B. Chowdhary wanted Prashanth for the lead role in 'Poove Unakkaga' but he insisted on Vijay after seeing his energetic performance in a song in 'Deva'.  A senior actor who starred in the film also was skeptical about Vijay and shared it with the director that the subject was too heavy on the shoulders of a "sparrow".

Vijay apparently was very confident about the film and gave his hundred percent and when the film went on to be celebrated by all age groups, Vikraman called the senior actor and told him that Vijay can even shoulder a rock. Nice snippet about 'Poove Unakkaga' a film that is fresh even today after twenty two years since its release.