Xpress. The film was officially announced on 8 November 2004, where Kamal Haasan revealed that the film would be made in Tamil and Hindi, with the former version also featuring Nassar, Pasupathy and Vaiyapuri while the latter would include Mahesh Manjrekar, Om Puri and Saurabh Shukla in its cast. The team faced further problems though trying to find a heroine for the film with Bipasha Basu, Sridevi, Tabu and then Kajol also turning down the opportunity to star in the bilingual. Basu later stated she was unsure if audiences would accept her in the role of a mother of a 10-year-old boy, citing this as the reason she refused the film. Finally in mid November 2004, the team agreed terms with Manisha Koirala and the actress flew to Chennai to take part in a photo shoot. Vijay Raaz also subsequently replaced Manjrekar, while a ten-year-old boy, Hardhik Thakar, was added to the cast. During production the film faced criticism for having an English title, though Kamal Haasan remained undisturbed by the controversy. During the making of the film, Kamal Haasan suffered a minor injury which resulted in severe bruising, though his co-passenger on the motorbike in the stunt escaped injury. Soundtrack The soundtrack was composed by Illayaraja, the Tamil lyrics were written by Vaali, and the Hindi lyrics were written by Dev Kohli.Kamal Haasan launched an audio company called Rajkamal Audios, just to release the film's music and held a special opening event at Prasad Labs. Tamil version Hindi version Release The film geared up for a 14 April release clashing with the Rajinikanth starrer Chandramukhi and the Vijay starrer Sachein. The film opened to positive reviews across 321 screens. RaajKamal Films International was successful in having the first digital film implemented (shot in the pioneering Red epic camera) a no-profit no-loss affair thus opening up a new path for potential filmmakers and India's foray into the digital film making. Even though the film won good reviews, the cinematography had been done experimentally with a digital movie camera and mainly due to the digital film implementation resulting in a slight dark output which left the viewer uneasy. The film, although widely considered a loss, was a great success technology-wise in the Indian cinema industry. Reception Critical Response Regarding the Hindi version, Baradwaj Rangan praised the film calling it "one of Kamal Haasan's most tight-knit, most convoluted screenplays, where every pratfall,