Because one of the lead characters is a Carnatic singer, the film uses various Carnatic music terms as placeholders to carry forward the narrative. The first is "sarali varisai", referring to the beginner lessons that Carnatic music students learn; "mohanam", meaning enchantment or infatuation, appears when Prasanna falls in love; and the film ends with "mangalam", referring to the closing part of a katcheri. The female lead characters are named after the Carnatic ragas Bhairavi and Ranjani. V. Ramji of the "Hindu Tamil Thisai" believes the scene where Prasanna beats up a man for not standing still when "Jana Gana Mana" (the Indian national anthem) is playing, reflects Balachander's penchant for depicting patriotism. During Pandiyan's first appearance, "Sruthi Bedham" (Change of Sruthi) appears. Historian Mohan Raman said that by including these words, Balachander "meant that the man who changed the course of the story would also the change the industry". Anand Kumar RS, of "The News Minute", however, says the term which also means "pitch distortion", was used to symbolise Pandiyan making "an entry at the wrong time".