Underplayed Gems
The whole movie catalogue

Films and series, searchable by what they are

← Back to the shop

Nanban (2012)

Nanban poster
Original title
நண்பன்
Directed by
S. Shankar
Genre
comedy drama
Country
India
Runtime
3h 08m
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 67 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb

How it feels

Three old college friends reunite and go on a road trip to find their missing best friend from engineering school. Along the way they remember their shared past and the lessons that friend taught them about life and chasing your dreams.

upliftinghumorousbittersweetenergeticsentimentalheartfeltbouncy

What happens

Nanban (transl. Friend) is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language coming-of-age comedy drama film directed by Shankar and produced by Gemini Film Circuit. The film stars Vijay, Jiiva, Srikanth, Sathyaraj, Ileana D'Cruz, Sathyan and Anuya, with S. J. Suryah and Vijay Vasanth in cameo appearances. It is a remake of the Rajkumar Hirani's 2009 Hindi-language film 3 Idiots, which itself is based on Chetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone. The film follows Venkat, Senthil and Srivatsan, who are on the search for their long lost friend, Panchavan Parivendhan. Gemini Film Circuit acquired the remake rights for 3 Idiots in January 2010. Several directors were approached to direct it, with Shankar finalised in that October. Vijay was signed to portray Aamir Khan's role in the film, however, he walked out due to schedule conflicts in December. After trying to get Suriya on board, which failed, Vijay was again brought on board. Casting process completed in February 2011, and principal photography commenced the same month. It was shot sporadically in several legs, before wrapping by late-October. Filming locations included Ooty, Dehradun, Pondicherry, Chennai, London and Buckingham. The film has music composed by Harris Jayaraj, cinematography handled by Manoj Paramahamsa and editing by Anthony Gonsalves. Nanban released on 12 January 2012 worldwide in theatres to positive reviews from critics. The film was also screened at the Melbourne Film Festival. Indian Express reported the film grossed ₹1.50 billion at the box office. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? Tell the Catbot what you feel like watching and it picks from the whole catalogue, or browse by genre, country and year.

Lists: Korean thrillers worth the evening · Anime films beyond Studio Ghibli · Slow films for a rainy night · Horror that unsettles instead of startling · Series you can finish in a weekend · Nordic crime worth the subtitles · Good films that end in under 90 minutes · Documentaries that play like thrillers

Loading movies…

What should I watch?