While he was planning the film, Varma encountered some people from the underworld and became interested in their human side.[5] Music producer and singer Gulshan Kumar was shot dead outside the Jeeteshwar Mahadev temple in Mumbai on 12 August 1997.[6] Varma learned about the murder from Jhamu Sughand, who had produced Rangeela.[4] Sughand told Varma that Gulshan had awakened at about 7 am and told the producer he would meet a singer at 8 am and a friend at 8:30; he would then go to the temple and meet him afterwards.[4] Varma then thought, "If Gulshan had woken up at 7 am, then at what time would the killer have woken up?"[4] He then decided to make a film about gangsters and, as an Ayn Rand fan, wanted to "put Howard Roark in the underworld".[7]