Nayagan (1987)

Original title

நாயகன்

Directed by

Mani Ratnam

Genre

drama film, crime film

Country

India

Runtime

2h 45m

Rated

A

Rating

7.9 of 10 from 94 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A slum dweller rises to become a powerful and respected crime lord in the Bombay underworld. The film follows his transformation and the personal costs of his journey.

epicemotionalintensemelancholicslow-burnmoodytragicgritty

What happens

Nayakan ( transl. Hero) is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language epic crime drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Produced by Muktha Srinivasan, the film stars Kamal Haasan and Saranya (in her feature debut) in the lead, with Janagaraj, Karthika, Vijayan, M. V. Vasudeva Rao, Delhi Ganesh, Nizhalgal Ravi, Nassar and Tara in supporting roles. It revolves around the evolution of Velu Naicker (Haasan) from an ordinary slum dweller to a highly respected crime lord in the Bombay underworld. Nayakan is loosely based on the life of the Bombay underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar and the American film The Godfather (1972). Ratnam was initially approached to remake the Hindi film Pagla Kahin Ka (1970) for Srinivasan and Haasan, but refused. He instead suggested two other stories, one of which impressed Haasan and became Nayakan. Cinematography was handled by P. C. Sreeram, and editing by B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan. Filming began in late 1986, taking place primarily in Madras and to a lesser extent, Bombay. Nayakan was released on 21 October 1987, Diwali day. The film became a critical and commercial success, running for over 175 days in theatres. It won the National Film Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Haasan), Best Cinematography (Sreeram) and Best Art Direction (Thota Tharani). The film was India's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 60th Academy Awards. It was also screened as "Kamal Haasan Focus" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands. Nayakan was selected as one of the 100 greatest films of all time by the American magazine TIME and as one of the 100 best Bollywood movies by the British magazine Time Out. The film was remade in Hindi as Dayavan (1988). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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