Anniyan 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 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
Robert Louis Stevenson brothers (Robert's uncles) Alan and David were in the same field. Even Thomas's maternal grandfather Thomas Smith had been in the same profession. However, Robert's mother's family were gentry, tracing their lineage back to Alexander Balfour who had held the lands of Inchyra in Fife in the fifteenth century. His mother's father Lewis Balfour (1777–1860) was a minister of the Church of Scotland at nearby Colinton, and her siblings included physician George William Balfour and marine engineer James Balfour. Stevenson spent the greater part of his boyhood holidays in his maternal grandfather's house. "Now I often wonder what I inherited