Nayakan (1987)

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

Mani Ratnam

Writers:

Balakumaran (dialogue)
Rajasri (Telugu dialogue)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

A small boy (Ratnavelu) from Tamilnadu sees his father, a labor leader, killed in cold blood by a policeman...

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Fight | Godfather Esque | Police Officer Killed | Moral Ambiguity

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Kamal Hassan	...	Velunayakan
Saranya	...	Neela
Janagaraj	...	Selva
Tinnu Anand	...	Ajit Singh
Nasser
Delhi Ganesh	...	Iyer
Nizhalgal Ravi	...	Surya
M.V. Vasudeva Rao	...	Vaapa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kartika

Also Known As:

Hero
Nayakudu (India: Telugu title) (dubbed version)
Velu-Nayakan (India: Hindi title) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

145 min

Country:

India

Language:

Tamil | Hindi | English

Color:

Color

Company:

Sujatha Film

Trivia:

This film is inspired by the true story of Mumbai based Tamil gangster of the 80s, Varadarajan Mudaliar.

Quotes:

Kid: Are you a good person or a bad person?
Velunayakan: I don't know.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Dharmatma (1975)

classic....... by Mr. Mani ratnam

this film is an out an out kamal hassan and Mani ratnam film, without Mani ratnam kamal would not have been able to display his magic, and without kamal, Mani would not have been able to show his magic. velu is a boy living in Tamil nadu. his father a labor leader is murdered by a ruthless police officer. velu decides to take revenge, and is supported by his friend, Sela(janagaraj). they both kill the police officer, and escape to Bombay, where they get shelter in a Muslim house hold. kamal naturally treats "Abba" the Muslim man, who is into smuggling. when he gets old he hands the small business to velu, who extracts more money for goods than his precede ever did. the rival parties get angry and pay bribe to a police man to get Abba killed. when velu gets to know this, he tracks down the police officer tactically. i must stop here to mention the marvellous sequence . great background score, Mani ratnam at his best, and kamal looking totally angry. he kills the police officer in front of everybody. the police officer though married used to molest women. the police came inquiring, but no one opened their mouth. from that day onwards velu became 'velu nayagan'. he became the ultimate don in Bombay, supporting the poor's cause, and going to any extent to fulfill it. he even got a poor child treatment in one of the best hospitals in Bombay for free. you must watch the movie, i can't spell its magic here, you have to watch it!