Nayagan

Nayagan Nayakudu (Telugu)
Official Tamil DVD Cover
Directed by	Mani Ratnam
Produced by	Mani Ratnam G. Venkateswaran
Written by	Mani Ratnam
Starring	Kamal Haasan Saranya Janagaraj Tinnu Anand Delhi Ganesh Nizhalgal Ravi Karthika Nasser Neena
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	P. C. Sriram
Distributed by	Sujatha Films
Release date(s)	31 July 1987
Running time	145 min
Language	Tamil
Gross revenue	US$3 million

Nayagan (Tamil: நாயகன், a.k.a. Nayakan; English: Leader) is a 1987 Tamil film, written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Upon release, the movie got rave reviews across India. Kamal Hassan's performance in this film earned him a Best Actor award. Maniratnam earned accolades from all over India and became popular overnight. The film also earned National Award for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.
Nayagan (which means 'Hero' or 'Leader') is based on the real-life Bombay underworld don Varada or Varadarajan Mudaliar, and sympathetically depicts the struggle of South Indians living in Bombay (now Mumbai). The lead character is played by Kamal Haasan, and the film also stars Saranya, Karthika, Nassar, Delhi Ganesh and Janagaraj. The soundtrack of the film was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.
The film was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1987. In 2005, Time Magazine included Nayagan in its "All-Time 100 Best Films" list.^[1]
The film was remade in Hindi as Dayavan in 1988, with Vinod Khanna playing the part of Saktivelu and with Feroz Khan and Madhuri Dixit playing the roles of Selvam and Neela. A dubbed version of the film was released as Velu Nayakan in 1999.

 Plot

Sakthivelu Nayakar (Kamal Hassan), the protagonist, is born to an anti-government union leader. The child, Velu, is tricked by the police into locating his father, and then witnesses his father's death in a police shootout. Then after doing the final rites for his father, he kills the person who was the cause for his father's death. Orphaned, he escapes to Bombay.
Stranded and homeless in the big city, he is rescued by a kind-hearted Muslim fisherman who takes him into his home in the sprawling suburban slums of Dharavi. His foster-father is also a small-time smuggler known for his generosity in the slum. Upon his running afoul of a senior crime lord, the corrupt local police officer Inspector Kelkar arrests the fisherman on smuggling charges, and is later murdered. Velu Naiker, now a young man who has come into his own, goes in search of the officer and bludgeons him to death.

kamal hassan in NAYAGAN

Kamal Hassan in a scene from the movie

With this act, he is seen at once a saviour and a man to be feared amongst the slum residents. As their godfather and protector, he flourishes by resuming his dead foster-father's local smuggling activities. He marries a destitute school-girl-turned-prostitute (Saranya) and has two children. Conflicts and power struggles occur in the competitive web of the smuggling world, in which Velu's wife becomes a casualty. Velu's kids are sent away to Chennai as a result and return years later to their father's home, as young adults.
The son, Surya (Nizhalgal Ravi), is eager to join his father in his activities, despite his father's reluctance. For his first real test, he is required to eliminate a potential witness against his father; he does this by hiring outside thugs. They succeed in eliminating the witness, but their failure to cover their tracks leads police to him at a petrol bunk and an accident costs him his life. Velu is heartbroken. Velu's daughter (Karthika) is at odds with her father over his form of justice and killings. To this he replies Ellariyum yetha sol, aprom naan yethran. The death of her brother was the last straw for her and she cuts off her relationship with her father and leaves him.
A newly appointed Assistant Police Commissioner (Nassar) starts afresh the hunt to bring Velu Nayakar to justice over his alleged activities and manages to secure an arrest warrant. This Commissioner is unknowingly Velu's son-in-law, as his daughter had secretly married him. After continued pursuit resulting in the beatings by police and self-immolation of slum dwellers, Velu surrenders to the police to spare the lives of the residents of his slum. He is tried in court but is released due to the lack of adequate evidence for his alleged nefarious activities. A supportive and emotional crowd gathers at the courthouse, awaiting Velu's release. Velu emerges to greet the tumultuous crowd but unexpectedly gets shot by Inspector Kelkar's retarded son, whom Velu had adopted, after he learns that Velu had killed his father long ago.

Cast

• Kamal Haasan, Manikandan (child role) as Shaktivelu / Velu Naiker
• Saranya Ponvannan as Neela
• Janagaraj as Selvam
• Tinnu Anand as Ajith Kelkar
• Delhi Ganesh as Aiyyer
• Nizhalgal Ravi as Surya
• Karthika as Charumati / Charu
• Nasser as Assistant Commissioner / Charu's husband
• Kitty as Shaktivelu's father
• M. V. Vasudeva Rao as Hussain Bai
• Tara as Shyla
• Vijayan

Awards

The film was nominated as India's official entry for the 1988 Academy Awards. However, it was not among the five films shortlisted for the award.
The film won the following awards:
1988 National Film Awards (India)

• Best Actor - Kamal Haasan
• Best Cinematography - P. C. Sriram
• Best Art Direction - Thotta Tharani