When Bhasmasur tries to touch Shiva's head, assumes the form of and makes Bhasmasur touch his own head, killing him. Commenting on the usage of, The New Indian Express ' Kruthi Grover found the death of the similar to the story of, a demon in Indian mythology to whom gives the power to reduce a person to ashes by touching her or his head. Malathi Rangarajan said the antagonist took the 'extreme step' of murdering the hero early in the film, in contrast with the stereotypical antagonist whose lust for the female lead has just begun and threatens the hero. Sudeep drew inspiration for his role as the villain from the 1983 Kannada film he was portraying a character he considered to be a 'bad guy' with 'grey shades' rather than an antagonist. Rajamouli chose to play the fly's human adversary after being impressed with the actor's performance in (2010), and cast rapper as Nani's friend in the film. For the first time in his career, Rajamouli began casting after the script was completed because he felt the story required actors who were suitable for the roles., the protagonist, was the first of the three of the main cast members to be chosen he completed filming his scenes in 25 days., the second actor cast, was signed as the female lead. The Tamil version, titled Naan Ee, was Rajamouli's directorial debut in. He decided to make Eega a bilingual film in and – each scene including speech was filmed twice, once for each language. After completing (2010), Rajamouli reconsidered the concept after thinking of directing a film that was distinct from any other.