

In Tamil it translates to "A man who never dies". After a lot of research, the director came up with the film title and stated it is the name of the character.

In March 2012, the film and collaborations were officially announced. Following his casting in the film, actor Dhanush became involved in character and screenplay-related discussions that were carried on for six months. During this time, the filmmaker was done with half of the screenplay. In late September 2011, the director narrated the first half of the film script to actor Dhanush and he agreed play the character Maryan. While improvising his script, the director met the former hostages who were held for 21 days under captivity. In early 2011, director Bharat Bala read about a 2008 incident involving three immigrant oil workers from India being kidnapped in the Darfur region of Sudan and how they had managed to escape from post being hostages. Director Bharat Bala on approaching Dhanush, who had won the 58th National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Aadukalam. Who else but Dhanush could give me what I wanted?" I needed to believe the character, his emotions and his journey. I was looking for a real person to carry this character. "I was one of the jury members at the National awards committee that chose Dhanush as the best actor for Aadukalam. He then returns to his village where his love is waiting for him. After finding the coast, he fights the terrorist who catches up with him and escapes. He gets separated from Saami, who gets killed later on, and gets lost in the desert and suffers from dehydration and confronts cheetahs as his mirage. After 21 days in captivity, Maryan escapes with Saami and runs for his life. One of his coworkers gets killed by the head terrorist. He successfully completes his tenure and packs bags in jubilation to return to his ladylove, but tragedy strikes in the form of Sudanese terrorists, who end up kidnapping Maryan and two of his coworkers, demanding money for their freedom. He then befriends Saami, and he is his only companion for Four years. Once, Panimalar is caught in unfortunate circumstances and to support her financially, Maryan is forced to take up employment on contract basis for two years in Sudan.

This eventually leads to him falling for her. The more Maryan tries to keep Panimalar away from him, the closer she tries to get. Maryan is loved and longed by Panimalar, but sadly, her feelings are not reciprocated.

Panimalar falls in love with Maryan and does not shy away in confessing it to him. He has an auspicious bond with sea and proudly claims himself as "Kadal Raasa" (King of Ocean). Mariyaan Joseph is a fisherman in a village named Neerody. The dubbed Telugu version of the film titled Mariyaan was released on 11 September 2015. However, in Tamil Nadu the film was declared as an average grosser. The film had the biggest opening in the United States amongst all Indian films releasing on the same date. The film received positive critical reception in India. The film released in Auro 3D sound format on selective screens in India and worldwide on 19 July 2013. The underwater scenes were filmed in Andamans and scenes featuring arid land were filmed at Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. The commencement of the principal photography took place on the same date, and was primarily shot across Sudan and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. Bharatbala narrated the story to Dhanush on September 2011, and the film was announced officially on March 2012, revealing the details of the cast and crew. The film revolves around a story of human survival adapted from a newspaper article of a real-life crisis event, when three oil workers from Tamil Nadu were kidnapped and taken hostage in Sudan by mercenaries. The film's title represents the character as "a man who never dies". Maryan is an emotional journey of a common man to an unknown place with the hope to come home and lead a better life. Oscar-award winner Resul Pookutty was the sound designer of the film. The dialogues in the film were penned by Joe D' Cruz. Rahman cinematography and editing were done by Marc Koninckx and Vivek Harshan respectively. The film has music and background score composed by A. Immortal) is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Bharat Bala, and produced by Venu Ravichandran, under the banner Aascar Films, starring Dhanush and Parvathy Thiruvothu.
