I think this came with lot of publicity those days (top star, heroine, bilingual etc).
The songs were extraordinary, with rAsA mirattifying with his latest gadget collections - the uRumum synth / guitar in 'oru ooril oru maharANi' prelude, the excellent percussion sounds / synth / guitar sounds of vandhadhu nalladhu nalla idam. The relatively "softer" songs of enna sugamAna ulagam (what a terrific solo violin there) & 'varuvAi anbE' were big hits too.
I think I mentioned in the IR-SPB thread as to how my cousin used to make fun of this movie (chocolate'la visham business solleettu avan sirichchadhu still rings in my ears). The TN audience those days didn't like such "dumbing them down" :wink: and they expected muLLum malarum kinds from Rajini :-)