Raghavan has described the film as a
suspense caper where the audience knows right from the outset what transpires and who the likely culprit is. The opening credits dedicate the film to the Indian director
Vijay Anand and writer
James Hadley Chase. The film is a tribute to Vijay Anand's influence on the Hindi noir/thriller genre. It pays tribute to him in a scene in which, the receptionist is seen watching Vijay Anand's film
Johnny Mera Naam, starring
Dev Anand, at the lobby of a hotel room. When the female lead is introduced she is reading
R.K. Narayan's
The Guide, which was also later made into a film directed by
Vijay Anand, starring
Dev Anand. While the story is not based on any of James Hadley Chase's novels, it does follow a similar plot line. There are numerous references to
James Hadley Chase within the film, the lead character himself is seen holding a copy of one of Chase's books. Director
Sriram Raghavan has presented the same genre in his previous venture,
Ek Hasina Thi, as well. The film also makes multiple references to
Amitabh Bachchan classic
Parwaana, and also shows scenes of a major plot sequence of the film. There are multiple tributes to the actor
Dharmendra himself. While dying, Dharmendra plays the song "Mera Gora Rang Le Le", his character's favourite song sung by the character's wife (Sonia Rakkar) in the film, which is from his film
Bandini in which played in the film. References from the films
Yakeen,
Aadmi Aur Insaan and
Naya Zamana, all of whom starred Dharmendra, are seen all throughout the film. There are references to famous Hollywood films in the film, for example, when Shiva is introduced in the film, he's watching
Stanley Kubrick's last film,
Eyes Wide Shut. And Dharmendra's line "It's not the age. It's the mileage", echoes a line from the
Indiana Jones film
Raiders of the Lost Ark. Apart from the note-counting scene inspired from
Scarface, there is a reference to
Titanic as well as
Citizen Kane in the scene where the female lead is assembling a huge jigsaw puzzle. The colour Red is used predominantly in the film, as a homage to
Sin City. Raghavan himself had confessed wanting to shoot the whole film in
black and white. Despite speculation, Raghavan's inspiration for the plot and characterization was not
Vijay Anand's film
Johny Mera Naam. Raghavan employs a
rope-a-dope by implying that his film as a tribute to
Vijay Anand, while also adding in
Parwaana and
James Hadley Chase as a distraction. Actually, the film was an adaptation of the 1963 French film
Symphonie Pour Un Massacre () by
Jacques Deray, which was based on the 1962 French crime novel
Les Mystifies by Alain Reynaud Fourton. Though there are also similarities with the
Stanley Kubrick's
film noir classic
The Killing, which includes the plot elements like the ex-conman character, the cheating wife and no-one escape climax, but the only stark difference is that
Kubrick's Johnny isn't the gaddar (). ==Soundtrack==