Anurag Kashyap stated "He is a man of very few words. Mani Sir doesn't gossip. That's the best thing about him. There is no frivolous talk. There is always work. He is always the first one to reach the office. The man wakes up at 5 am, reads the paper, and goes for a one-hour walk and still has that passion for cinema after so many films. He lives and breathes films...Work with Mani Ratnam again? Anytime. I will go down on bended knee [to do so]. I have all of Mani Sir's films on DVD.I have seen Yuva. I have not seen the Tamil version yet. I want to...Yuva has shaped up brilliantly. Technically, they [Mani Ratnam and cinematographer Ravi K Chandran] have done things that give the film a whole new style. He has shot the three different characters in different hues, tones and styles.
I want to wait and watch the reaction to Yuva. In form, structure and attempt, it is so far removed from other films. It speaks to the youngsters. It also shows the youngsters to the elders as they are.
Mani Sir constantly attempts to go into an area [subject] where no one has gone before. My expectations are very high. I want to be there in the theatre and see how people react to the film and write about it."
The film was a bilingual. Made in Tamil and Hindi at the same time with a different cast. Madhavan recieved more praise for the tamil version compared to Abhishek yet This was a turning point for Abhishek.
Writer Anurag Kashyap was very disappointed with Abhishek Bachchan's performance in the film they both were not on talking terms for almost a decade after the film Anurag at the time stated, "If John Abraham is a bad actor than Abhishek Bachchan is equally bad, but who has the b***s to write it? AB was great in Yuva to everybody except me. I am the one who wrote the goddamned lines. I wrote Lallan Singh and they were the best damn lines I ever wrote. And believe me, he didn't understand half of it. He never rose above the script, but he won all the awards. His talent, and his career, the way it has shaped up are two different things and I do not envy him that. He is loved by people. John is rising over the script in what I am doing.
The original title for the movie is Howrah Bridge.
Anurag Kashyap stated "Mani Ratnam had come down looking for a writer. I think Ram Gopal Varma recommended my name. Mani Sir saw Paanch as well. I was doing my own film [at the time]. I had written a film [Sangam Mail] for Shaad Ali. Shaad also told Mani Sir ..I write very fast. And Mani Sir wanted someone who could do it [the Yuva script] very fast. I went down to Chennai for 20 days. I stayed in a hotel and did the drafts. I came back and started doing my own film. After that, he called me whenever he needed changes...I don't understand Tamil. But I wrote for Nayak, which was based on Shankar's Tamil film, Mudhalvan. I watch a lot of Tamil films. I saw Sethu before it was made as Tere Naam. I have watched a lot of Bala's films."