 "Aaranya Kaandam" is named after one of the chapters from the epic Ramayana meaning "Jungle Chapter".It is supposedly the first "neo-noir" film in Tamil cinema and influenced by films like "Traffic" and "Pulp Fiction".Thiagarajan Kumararaja said that his inspiration behind making a gangster film was revealed to be "The Godfather" as well as the thought of "how someone becomes a gangster and continues to be one", clarifying that "Aaranya Kaandam" was not a biography or history of a gangster but "a page out of the life of a gangster".