[1] The film was directed by Mani Ratnam, and stars Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, while the soundtrack album was released on 24 December 1994 by Pyramid.

The soundtrack of the film became one of the best-selling Indian music albums of all time, with sales of 15 million units.

"Kannalane", also known as "Kehna Hi Kya", is based on Qawwali, a form of Islamic Sufi music.

[9][10] K. S. Chithra won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback for the song "Kannalane".

"Kehna Hi Kya", like the other songs on the Hindi soundtrack, was written by Urdu lyricist Mehboob.

The track "Bombay Theme" is an instrumental orchestral piece composed and arranged by A. R. Rahman.

Major compilation albums on which it appeared include Chakra Seven Centers (1995; in which it was credited as "Ajna Chakra"), Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground (1997), Café del Mar Vol 5 (1998), Ambient Chillout Mix Vol.

[12][13] Rahman reused the track as "Bombay Theme Intro" in the score of the 1996 film, Fire, by Deepa Mehta.

[9] The female vocals have been provided by K. S. Chithra for Tamil and Telugu, and the Hindi version was sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy.

The background voice was by Hariharan & Swarnalatha The song was shot at Bekal Fort in Kerala.