made her acting debut with this film. Vimal who went on to act in films like Pasanga (2009) and Kalavani (2010) appeared in a small role as one of Vijay's teammates and also worked as "unofficial" assistant director. Filming Filming began in July 2003, after Vijay had completed shooting for his previous film Thirumalai and the entire film was completed by February 2004. Shooting took place mainly in and around Chennai ,surrounding the areas like Mylapore and Besant Nagar and also at the cities of Rayagada in Odisha and Araku Valley, Simhachalam and Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The film's introduction fight scene and a song were shot at a costly set in Prasad studios. While cinematography was primarily handled by Gopinath, one song was filmed by K. V. Anand. A lighthouse set was also erected. The interval chasing sequences were canned near the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai and at Manapparai in Trichy district. The climax scene was shot in a crowd of one hundred thousand people in the 2003 Vinayagar Chaturthi occasion. Music Vidyasagar was signed to compose the soundtrack album and background score for Ghilli; it marks the fourth collaboration of both Dharani and Vijay, with the former on Ethirum Puthirum, Dhill and Dhool, and working with the latter after Coimbatore Mappillai (1995), Nilaave Vaa (1998) and Thirumalai (2002). The soundtrack features six songs. The lyrics were penned by Yugabharathi, Pa. Vijay, Na. Muthukumar, Kabilan and Maran. The song Appadi Podu was later reused by Chakri as "Adaragottu" in the Telugu movie Krishna (2008). The song was also adapted by P. A. Deepak, a music producer, as Hum Na Tode in the 2013 Hindi movie Boss. The song is sung by Vishal Dadlani. Following the internet phenomenon of "Why This Kolaveri Di" in 2011, "Appadi Podu" was featured alongside "Oh Podu", "Nakka Mukka" and "Ringa Ringa" in a small collection of south Indian songs that are considered a "national rage" in India. The "Kabaddi" theme music from the soundtrack album was remixed by Anirudh Ravichander, for Master (2021). Release Ghilli was released on 17 April 2004, delayed from 9 April. Though the reason for the postponement was not given out, rumours were that Rathnam's creditors put pressure on him to settle his accounts before release. Reception Critical reception Ghilli opened to favourable reviews. Sify rated the movie 5 out of 5 stars and said, "the good old formula