Maha Nadigan

Maha Nadigan
Directed by	Sakthi Chidambaram
Written by	Sakthi Chidambaram
Produced by	Gnana Sundari
Starring	Sathyaraj Manoj Vasu
Cinematography	C. Sureshdevan
Edited by	Anil Malnad
Music by	Deva
Production company	Sundari films
Release date	3 December 2004
Running time	134 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹1.5 crore

Maha Nadigan (English: Great Actor) is a 2004 Tamil language political satire film written and directed by Sakthi Chidambaram starring Sathyaraj, Manoj and Vasu. It is a satire of Tamil cinema and politics, with Sathyaraj playing a common man who goes to become a cinema star and then the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The film received positive reviews from the critics and was a hit at the box office.

Plot

Sathya (Sathyaraj), an junior artiste manages to get an chance to act as a hero in a movie. His popularity increases, as he becomes a superstar. Arivanandham (Vasu), a corrupt politician and the leader of a major political party requests Sathya to contest in the assembly elections, to which Sathya accepts. Arivanandham makes Sathya the Chief Minister candidate. Arivanandham's party receives a brute majority due to Sathya's popularity and wins the assembly elections. Sathya becomes the CM. After becoming the CM, he jails all the ministers including Arivanandham. Sathya orders many raids into the houses of ministers and acts weird. The story then moves to a flashback.

Muthu (Manoj), an diehard fan of Sathya loses his right hand, in a clash between two actors' fans. This leaves an huge impact on Sathya, who learns from this event that how much his fans had been devoted to him. Sathya begins to care for Muthu and the two become close. Some days before Sathya's oath taking ceremony, Arivanandham is plotting to kill Sathya and become the CM himself. Arivanandham plants bombs in the marriage hall of Muthu's wedding. Fortunately, Sathya escapes the blast but Muthu dies. Sathya desires revenge for Arivanandham and decides to put it in good use, as the flashback ends.

The rest of the film Sathya introduces many reforms in the government. During the end, he dismisses all the corrupt ministers and selects many youngsters as ministers. He resigns and names Devika (Mallika), an IAS officer who has done much service as the Chief Minister and walks away, as the film ends.

Cast

• Sathyaraj as Sathya
• Manoj as Muthu
• Vasu as Arivanandam
• Mallika as Devika
• Namitha as Aishwarya
• Mumtaj as Nandini
• Raj Kapoor
• Visu
• Ramesh Khanna
• Gajendran
• Sathyan
• Manobala
• Chitra
• Anu
• Suryah in a special appearance
• Manivannan in a special appearance
• Vikraman in a special appearance
• K. S. Ravikumar in a special appearance

Soundtrack

Maha Nadigan
Soundtrack album by Deva
Released	2004
Recorded	2004
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	21:29
Label	Lucky Audio
Producer	Deva
Deva chronology
Gajendra (2004) Maha Nadigan (2004) Englishkaran (2005)

Soundtrack was composed by Deva and Released on Lucky Audio.

Track-List

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Alwa Nayagane"	Piraisoodan	Mano, Swarnalatha	6:16
2.	"Kodambakkam"	Nagore Saleem	Malaysia Vasudevan	5:20
3.	"Kelappu Kelappu"	Deva Kumar	Malathy Lakshmanan, Grace Karunaas	4:47
4.	"Vayase Vayase"	Pa. Vijay	Harini	5:06
Total length:				21:29

Reviews

The Hindu wrote "After "Ennamma Kannu" Shakti Chidambaram made the viewer take notice of his wit and comic sense again in "Charlie Chaplin." [..] In "Maha Nadigan" the humour is back, though he could have concentrated a little more on the storyline too". Indiaglitz wrote "Sakthi Chidambaram deserves kudos for a bold and honest film. But usually bold films are laced with anger, but Mahanadigan is full of poignant humor."

Release

Made on a shoe-string budget, Maganadigan was a hit.