Director Gautham Menon had teamed up with actor Vijay in 2011 for an international espionage thriller titled Yohan: Adhyayam Ondru but the project was dropped before takeoff in 2012. A decade and plus later, Tamil cine buffs still remember the project from time to time purely for the anticipation the potential collaboration had created with composer AR Rahman too in the project.
In Dhruva Natchathiram, Menon's another ambitious film that is yet to release, actor Vikram plays three characters namely Dhruv, John (English version of the name Yohan) and Joshua. While the name is stylized as John in Dhruva Natchathiram, Gautham Menon in 2017 made use of Yohan leading to speculations if Dhruva Natchathiram was developed from the idea the director had for Yohan: Adhyayam Ondru.
Hoping to take you into Dhruv's world soon.Or John's.Or Yohan's
— Gauthamvasudevmenon (@menongautham) September 18, 2017
Nandri Chiyaan for waltzing through a gruelling sched pic.twitter.com/AQr4c8HvwE
Now in 2023, Gautham Menon has addressed the same and said that Dhruva Natchathiram: Chapter One Yuddha Kaandam is a completely different script from Yohan: Adhyayam Ondru. Gautham Menon has acted in Vijay's upcoming movie Leo and when asked if he has plans of directing the actor ever, the filmmaker dropped hints of reviving Yohan again.
"I definitely want to do a film with Vijay & at some point I will narrate a script..The concept of Yohan is still alive within me...I have incorporated a few elements from Yohan in Dhruva Natchathiram, but it's an entirely different story.." - Gautham Vasudev Menon