nation and ends with a long monologue that grieves the present India's reality. When the female lead Kalyani becomes pregnant, she and her husband Thangappan decide to name the child "Pannirselvam" if it is a boy, and "Nagammai" if it is a girl. The names are references to A. T. Pannirselvam, a prominent and respected leader of the Justice Party and Nagammai, a leading activist in the Self-Respect Movement and the wife of E. V. Ramasamy. According to film historian Selvaraj Velayutham, Parasakthi was basically oriented to social reform. United News of India (UNI), Malini Nair of The Times of India and K. S. Sivakumaran of the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily News have referred to the film as a satire, with UNI describing it as a "sociological satire". The film deploys Kalyani's vulnerability as a widow in a hostile society, with consequent threats to her chastity, especially during the court trial scenes. The name Kalyani was chosen by the screenwriter to emphasise the contradiction between the meaning of her name indicating auspiciousness and her contrasting penury. The theme is expressed through Gunasekaran's arguments in the court : "[My] sister's name is Kalyani. An auspicious name [indeed]. But there is no mangalyam around [her] neck". Also, Vimala, who becomes Gunasekaran's bride, compares herself to Kannagi, a popular symbol of chastity in Tamil culture. Ganesan, who enacted the role of Gunasekaran in Parasakthi, was a DMK activist in real life in 1952 and helped in propagating the theme of Dravida Nadu. The film attempted to bring to light the alleged fraud in the name of religion and presented agnostic views, displaying a powerful critique of the Congress rule in the Madras Presidency. Film historian Mohan Raman compared Parasakthi to Velaikari (1949), as both films featured a "court scene where the hero rids society of irrational beliefs and practices". Music The music of Parasakthi was composed by R. Sudarsanam. The lyrics were written by Bharathidasan, Subramania Bharati, M. Karunanidhi, Annal Thango, Udumalai Narayana Kavi and K. P. Kamatchisundaram. The background score was composed by the Chennai-based Saraswathi Stores Orchestra. Relatively higher importance was given to the film's dialogues over its music, so the dialogues were sold separately on audio cassettes. Some of the numbers from Parasakthi were based on songs from Hindi films; one was a rehash from the Urdu film Akeli (1952). The number "O Rasikkum Seemane" inspired "Itai Tazhukikkolla" from Periyar