always offered fascist-fantastic solutions to what he perceives as social ills resulting from typical governmental inertia." In an interview with The Hindu, Shankar elaborated on the message he conveys through the film: Following the release of the trailer on 7 May 2005, the film was believed to be inspired by the 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson novel, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Upon the film's release, The Hindu drew parallels between it and the 1998 novel Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon. Shankar denied that the film was inspired by Tell Me Your Dreams, claiming that he knew of the novel only after completing the script. Sify compared the character of Ambi to the protagonist of The Mask (1994), a film about a "mild mannered guy changing into a one-man army, craving to see natural justice realised". The methods of punishment meted out to the sinners by Anniyan in the film is based on Garuda Purana, a Vaishnavite purana which speaks of life after death and punishments for wrongdoers. Shankar pointed out that he "worked tirelessly day and night and intense research was done with the help of a professor in department of Vaishnavism in Madras University." Music The album marked Shankar's first collaboration with Harris Jayaraj; all his previous directorial ventures had A. R. Rahman composing the music. As Rahman was busy with his debut Broadway musical Bombay Dreams and had also signed up for another musical Lord of the Rings, Rahman and Shankar decided to part ways. In early 2004, Harris Jayaraj went on a trip to Phuket Islands in Thailand for some inspiration for the album; he was accompanied by Shankar and Vairamuthu. Eventually, the three songs penned by the lyricist were composed in the island. The visit took place much before the tragic 2004 tsunami struck the countries bordering the Indian Ocean and wreaked havoc. In a chat with Shankar, Harris Jayaraj said "the music was a challenge because the film was a mix of genres – action, comedy, thriller. In essence, it was a cock-mocktail .." Harris Jayaraj commenced the film's re-recording in April 2005 and took more than a month to complete, delaying the film's release. The soundtrack album features six tracks, including a theme music; the lyrics for the songs were written by Vairamuthu, Na. Muthukumar and Kabilan. The album was released as a soft launch on 13 May 2005.