Behindwoods had an exclusive interview with director Atlee post the release of Mersal. Here is an interesting excerpt from the interview.
During the conversation, Atlee was asked about the Shankar reference that comes in the film, a dialogue spoken by Sathyaraj. Atlee answered to that by saying, "I am a Shankar sir student and his style of making was the reference point and scale for me. Before writing the screenplay, his film format was the graph that I had in the mind. I took his films as the proper structuring format.
Fortunately, a reference dialogue came to my mind, and it beautifully suited the scene. I asked Sathyaraj sir to tell that dialogue and he was humble enough to agree to that and say. It was a proud moment for me indeed. Who else, other than me, could be more proud to have that line?. He has not seen the film yet, and when he watches, it would be a surprise for him."