Nayagan

For the 2010 Malayalam film, see Nayakan.

Nayagan
Official DVD cover
Directed by	Mani Ratnam
Produced by	Mani Ratnam G. Venkateswaran
Written by	Mani Ratnam Balakumaran
Starring	Kamal Haasan Saranya Janagaraj Tinnu Anand Delhi Ganesh Nizhalgal Ravi Karthika Nasser Neena
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	P. C. Sriram
Editing by	B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan
Studio	Muktha Films
Distributed by	Sujatha Productions (P) Ltd.
Release date(s)	October 21, 1987 (1987-10-21)
Running time	145 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Nayagan (Tamil: நாயகன், a.k.a. Nayakan; English: The Hero) is an Indian film written, directed, and co-produced by Mani Ratnam, released on 21 October 1987 coinciding with Diwali. Upon release, the film got rave reviews across India. Kamal Hassan's performance as Velu Naiker earned him a National Film Award for Best Actor. The film also earned the National Award for Best Cinematography (P. C. Sriram) and Best Art Direction (Thotta Tharani).

Nayagan is based on the real-life Bombay underworld don Varada aka Varadarajan Mudaliar, and sympathetically depicts the struggle of South Indians living in Bombay (now Mumbai). 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.

The film was dubbed in Telugu under the title Nayakudu. It was remade in Hindi cinema as Dayavan in 1988, with Vinod Khanna playing the part of Saktivelu and with Feroz Khan and Madhuri Dixit the roles of Selvam and Neela. A Hindi dubbed version of the film was released as Velu Nayakan in 1999.

Plot

Sakthivelu Nayakar (Kamal Haasan), 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; the fisherman is subsequently murdered. Velu Naiker, now a young man who has come into his own, goes in search of the officer and bludgeons him to death.

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 nirutha sollu, appuram naan niruthuran [Ask everyboy to stop, after that I will stop]. 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

Crew

• Director - Maniratnam
• Producer - Maniratnam, G.Venkateswaran
• Screenplay - Maniratnam
• Story - Maniratnam
• Dialogue - Balakumaran
• Music - Ilaiyaraja
• Cinematography - P.C.Sriram
• Editing - B.Lenin, V.T.Vijayan
• Art - Thotta Tharani
• Choreography - Sundaram
• Stunt - Super Subbarayan
• Lyrics - Pulavar Pulaimaipithan, Ilaiyaraja
• Assistant Directors - K.M.Govindarajan, K.N.Lokchander
• Associate Directors - K.Suresh, Raja Krishnamoorthy
• Make-up - Saleem, Sambath, Dr. S.Ramachandran
• Costumes - Ravi
• Stills - Murali, Suresh
• Lalithkumar - As a hard core fan of Velu Nayaker

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

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

In 2005, Time Magazine included Nayagan in its "All-Time 100 Best Films" list.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features five songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with lyrics by Ilaiyaraja and Pulavar Pulamaipithan. This is Ilayaraja's 400th film.(as credited in the main title sequence) The songs and the background score are still popular today.

Tamil Track listing

Title	Singer(s)
"Nee Oru Kaadhal Sangeetham"	Mano and K. S. Chitra
"Thenpaandi Cheemayile"	Ilaiyaraaja and Kamal Haasan
"Nila Adhu Vaanathumele"	Ilaiyaraaja
"Naan Sirithal Deepawali"	K. Jamuna Rani, M. S. Rajeswari and chorus
"Andhi Mazhai Megam"	T. L. Maharajan and chorus

Hindi Dub

For the Hindi dub, composers Deepak-Santosh were approached to rescore 2 numbers. "Nee Oru Kaadhal Sangeetham" & "Thenpaandi Cheemayile" were re scored by the duo as "Chaha Humne Tujhe" & "Sitam Ki Aandhi Se". Yet, "Nee Oru Kaadhal Sangeetham" was dubbed and released in the film's dubbed soundtrack with lyrics by P.K Mishra and Nawab Arzoo. Actor Kamal Haasan participated in the Hindi version of the film. The film was released in 1999.

Title	Singer(s)	Notes
•"Chaha Humne Tujhe"	Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik	Replacement track for "Nee Oru Kaadhal"
"Haiya Ho Haiya Ho"	Leonara Issac & Sudesh Bhosle	"Nila Adhu Vaanathumele" dubbed
"Hazir Hai Dilber Mere Kadmon"	Anupama Deshpande & Mitali Chowdhury	"Naan Sirital Deepawali" dubbed
"Jeevan Ka Sangeet Ho Tum"	Suresh Wadekar & Anupama Deshpande	"Nee Oru Kadhal" dubbed. Not in film.
"Mastiyo Mein Dooba"	Udit Narayan & Sadhana Sargam	"Andhi Mazhai Megham" dubbed
•"Sitam Ki Andhi Se"	Hariharan	Replacement track for "Thenpaandi Cheemayile"

• • indicates tracks composed by Deepak-Santosh.

See also

• List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Time's All-TIME 100 Movies

External links

• Nayakan at the Internet Movie Database