During his career, Indian film director Gautham Vasudev Menon has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially canceled, or would see life under a different production team.
2000s Iru Vizhi Unadhu In August 2001, following the release of Minnale (2001), Menon began work on a film tentatively titled Iru Vizhi Unadhu, though the project did not develop into production. The film was set to have music composed by Harris Jayaraj and songs written by Thamarai.
Hindi remake of Kaakha Kaakha In March 2003, prior to the theatrical release of Kaakha Kaakha (2003), Menon noted that the film would have been better suited to a Mumbai-setting, as police encounters were more common in the city than in Chennai. He revealed plans of potentially remaking the film in Hindi with Ajay Devgn in the lead role, if a chance had presented itself. Soon after Kaakha Kaakha'''s release in August 2003, Menon became attached to a Hindi remake of the film produced by Feroz Khan, with Fardeen Khan, Preity Zinta and Jeevan in the lead roles. He revealed that he would make small changes to the film to reflect the Mumbai-setting and hoped that the film would be made at a bigger budget than the Tamil original. However, the project eventually did not materialise and Menon opted out of the collaboration.
In July 2004, Menon agreed terms to direct and produce the film in Hindi with Sunny Deol in the lead role. During the pre-production phase, he revealed that the script was written five years ago with Deol in mind. The film eventually failed to take off despite Deol committing to work on the film between July and September 2005. In April 2006, Menon noted that the remake was dropped citing that he was not keen for Deol to be in the film. In the late 2000s, Menon tried to convince Suriya to work on the Hindi version of the film but was unsuccessful.
The film was later made in Hindi as Force (2011) with John Abraham in the lead role. Menon was briefly attached to the film after accepting an invitation from producer Vipul Shah to remake the film, before opting out.
Untitled film with Prabhas In October 2003, an untitled film was announced with Prabhas, producer Tatineni Ajay Kumar and D Raj Varma as the presenter. Trisha was later confirmed to be a part of the film in mid-2004.
English remake of Kaakha Kaakha Menon and producer, Kalaipuli S. Dhanu floated an idea of an English-language version of Kaakha Kaakha (2003) with a Chechnyan backdrop, though talks on a potential collaboration with Ashok Amritraj collapsed. Menon later stated that he dropped plans to make the film in English, as he wanted to establish himself across India first.
Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam with Suriya In late 2003, Menon began work on a romantic drama film titled Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam with Suriya in the lead role for film producer Srinivasa Raju. He had written the script of the film while on a recce to Kochi during monsoon season. Menon considered either Trisha or Asin for the role, before eventually selecting the latter, who had worked with him on Gharshana (2004). Daniel Balaji was also a part of the film's original cast.
Menon revealed that the film would initially be about a young college student who falls in love with a classmate, and in the second half, something large happens on a national level, prompting the protagonist to take it upon himself to solve that, with just his band of friends. The first schedule of the film began in January 2004 in Visakhapatanam, but the project was eventually dropped owing to Menon's personal issues. Menon later reworked the script of the film to make Vaaranam Aayiram (2008) with a different cast and crew.
Hindi remake of Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu Menon expressed an interest in remaking Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006) in Hindi with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role, without the love angle, though the project fell through after discussions with UTV Motion Pictures. In 2012, he started negotiations with producers to make a Hindi version of the film with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role.
Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam with Trisha In July 2007, Menon began work on a youth-centric film titled Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam featuring Trisha in the lead role. He retained the title of his previous shelved film starring Suriya, as producer Aascar Ravichandran, who planned to revive the other project, was not keen on keeping the old title. For the first time in his career, Menon opted to collaborate with A. R. Rahman, rather than Harris Jayaraj, as the film's music composer. A photoshoot for the film was completed by the end of July 2007, with four rookie male actors joining Trisha in the film. Menon signed on actress Sridevi's nephew Karthik, his assistant director Veera, dancer Sathish and video jockey Shaam, for acting roles in the film. Actresses Nikita Thukral and Nethra, previously seen in Thoovanam (2007), also joined the film in lead roles, while Daniel Balaji was cast as the antagonist.
Set in the backdrop of Chennai's IT industry, the team began its shoot in Hyderabad during September 2007, with the intention of completing the process in three months. The date was not met and Menon alternated on schedules for the film with his commitments on Vaaranam Aayiram (2008). A second schedule for the film in Chennai began during May 2008, after which fifty percent of the film was complete. As Menon was working with Trisha on Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam, he chose to use her dates for Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010), when the film was put on hold.
In 2011, Menon revealed that the film was dropped because he felt the actors "needed to be trained", and would consider restarting the project at a later stage.
Surangani In September 2008, Menon signed on with Sivaji Productions to direct Ajith Kumar and Sameera Reddy in an action drama film titled Surangani. Menon planned the film as a spiritual prequel to Billa (2007) and revealed that the film would focus on the career growth of a Sri Lankan refugee into a gangster involved in the criminal underworld of Tamil Nadu. Ajith was set to play the lead character of Sura, while Reddy would have portrayed Ragini.
Harris Jayaraj was signed on to compose the film's score and soundtrack, amid media reports that Ajith was insistent on having Jayaraj over A. R. Rahman to ensure that the film was completed quickly. Menon had hoped to shoot the film in places such as Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli and cinematographer Nirav Shah became attached to the project, with a proposed start date for the shoot scheduled for November 2008. The producers contemplated changing the film's title after another production studio, Miracle Films, claimed that they had already registered Surangani for a project being directed by J. Suresh. Menon later pulled out of the commitment in November 2008, citing that the producers were not willing to let him take his own time with scripting. He noted that Sivaji Productions wanted to complete the project as soon as possible, while his schedule was largely busy until 2010 with other commitments.
Thuppariyum Anand Menon began research and pre-production work on a 1930s period spy thriller titled Thuppariyum Anand in late 2008. The script was adapted to suit Indian audiences from a Clive Cussler novel, and told the tale of a chase between a bank robber and a police officer. He had written the film with Suriya in mind and then offered the film to Aamir Khan and Kamal Haasan, though neither option materialised. Menon then pitched the film to Ajith Kumar for a potential project, but the film failed to progress.
2010s Crime series with Parthiban In early 2011, Menon began pre-production work on a television series featuring Parthiban in the lead role of a detective, but did not carry through with the idea after he failed to find financiers. He had hoped to film 150 episodes, which would play out over a 30-week period and feature different stories to run between every Monday and Friday.
Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau A Hindi version of the romantic films Neethaane En Ponvasantham (2012) in Tamil and Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu (2012) in Telugu, titled Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau, was also shot simultaneously with Aditya Roy Kapoor and Samantha playing the lead roles. However, the failure of Menon's other Hindi film Ekk Deewana Tha (2012) saw production ultimately halted. Sixty percent of the film was completed by the time of pausing the project. The team chose not to complete the project after the Tamil version received a mixed response from audiences.
Yohan: Adhyayam Ondru In July 2011, Menon began pre-production work on the first film of an action-adventure series of films titled Yohan starring Vijay in the title role with the first film titled Yohan: Adhyayam Ondru. He revealed that the film would narrate the tale of an agent going against an arms dealer, who has caused mass destruction around the world, and compared the theme of the film to the Bond series. The character of Yohan would play an American citizen, and an English actress would be cast in the lead female role. However, after a year of pre-production, the director shelved the film citing differences of opinion about the project. Menon later revealed that Vijay did not want to do the film citing that it felt "too much like an English film".
Yennai Arindhaal 2 Soon after the release of Yennai Arindhaal in February 2015, Menon began working on a sequel to the film. In May 2018, he revealed that he had completed thirty percent of the script and was only keen to approach Ajith Kumar once the full-bound script was ready. He revealed that the actor was previously bothered by Menon's lack of completed script during the making of the earlier film.
Ondraaga In October 2015, Menon began planning a multilingual production to be shot in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, which would feature four actors in leading roles. The film was reported to revolve around the lives of four friends from the four Southern Indian states, who meet at a wedding after many years, and then decide to take a roadtrip in the United States. Menon initially discussed making the project with Silambarasan, Allu Arjun, Fahadh Faasil and Puneeth Rajkumar, with the latter also keen to produce the Kannada version of the film. Over the following months, Prithviraj agreed to portray the Malayali character in the film ahead of Fahadh Faasil, and accepted the offer despite Menon's initial doubts about whether the actor would feature in a multi-starrer project. Likewise, Naga Chaitanya also was reported to have replaced Allu Arjun as the Telugu character in the film.