Naalai Namadhe (2009 film)

This article is about the 2009 film. For the 1975 film, see Naalai Namadhe.

Naalai Namadhe
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Vinayan
Written by	Vinayan V. J. Antony (dialogues)
Produced by	Jose Mavely
Starring	Pradeep Sharwanand Sanusha
Cinematography	Rajarathnam
Edited by	Mukesh G. Murali
Music by	Ramani Bharadwaj
Production company	Jana Seva films
Release date	10 April 2009 (2009-04-10)
Running time	135 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Naalai Namadhe (English: Tomorrow is ours) is a 2009 Tamil drama film directed by Vinayan. The film features newcomer Pradeep, Sharwanand, and Sanusha in the lead roles, with Manivannan, Karthika Mathew, Ashish Vidyarthi and Rajan P. Dev, Tanikella Bharani, Kiran Rathod, Oviya, M. S. Bhaskar, and Charle playing supporting roles. The film, produced by Jose Mavely, had musical score by Ramani Bharadwaj and was released on 10 April 2009. The film was dubbed into Malayalam as India Today and was released on 10 April 2014.

Plot

Udayappa (Ashish Vidyarthi) is a wealthy businessman who donates 1800 crores for charity purpose in his district. He requests the district collector Priya Alexander (Karthika Mathew) to entrust the job of spending the money to two slum-dwellers, Mani (Manivannan) and his adopted son Ramu (Pradeep). Udayappa instructs to use the money to build houses for slum dwellers.

One night, the drunk Raju (Sharwanand), the son of the greedy politician Mahaganapathy (Rajan P. Dev), attempts to rape Mani's adopted daughter Shanthi (Sanusha), but the prostitute Sarasu (Kiran Rathod) saves Shanthi from her aggressor. The next day, at a school function, Raju is invited as the chief guest and is shocked to see the schoolgirl Shanthi. Shanthi then gives a public speech and begs Raju to help the slum dwellers. Raju decides to become a good person, and he declares his love for her. Mahaganapathy and Ramasamy (Tanikella Bharani) are keen to usurp the money given by Udayappa, and they threaten Mani to give them the 1800 crores. Mani and Ramu then kidnap Mahaganapathy to avert the blackmail. During the abduction, Maha Ganapathy discovers Udayappa's dead body.

In the past, Udayappa was a small-time crook who forced the child Ramu to steal, and one day, he burned a hovel where 24 orphaned kids were sleeping, and all of the children died. Many years later, Udayappa became a rich businessman by wrong means. To take revenge on him, Ramu kidnapped his daughter Aishwarya (Oviya) and he blackmailed Udayappa to donate a part of his fortune to the slum dwellers. Udayappa first cooperated with them but then changed his mind.

When the election starts, Ramu decides to become an independent candidate at the election, but since he is homeless and does not have a voter ID, he cannot contest at the election. Ramu then requests the slum dwellers to vote none of the above, and NOTA gets the majority of votes. Udayappa is, in reality, alive and is sequestered by Mani. Mahaganapathy escapes from the place and orders his henchmen to kill Udayappa. Mahaganapathy then kidnaps Shanthi, and Ramasamy brutally rapes her. Shanthi then kills Mahaganapathy and is arrested. Seven years later, Shanthi is released from jail and the current home minister, Raju, asks for her hand in marriage.

Cast

• Pradeep as Ramu
• Sharwanand as Raju
• Sanusha as Shanthi
• Karthika Mathew as Priya Alexander
• Manivannan as Mani
• Ashish Vidyarthi as Udayappa
• Rajan P. Dev as Mahaganapathy
• Tanikella Bharani as Ramasamy
• Kiran Rathod as Sarasu
• Oviya as Aishwarya
• M. S. Bhaskar as DGP Pullaiah
• Mayilsamy as Kunjithapatham
• Crane Manohar as Poochi
• Muthukaalai as Kaattu Poonai
• Charle
• Leema Babu
• Vaiyapuri
• Kumaresan as Sundarrajan
• Thalaivasal Vijay in a guest appearance
• Ragasya in a special appearance

Production

Vinayan made his return to Tamil cinema after a hiatus of seven years, he had taken the title from M. G. Ramachandran's film Naalai Namadhe (1975). Kiran Rathod was set to don the role of a woman living in a slum, appearing without any makeup. Newface Pradeep and Telugu actor Sharwanand were selected to play the lead roles with debutant Sanusha playing her first lead role as an actress. Rajarathnam took care of camera works while Ramani Bharadwaj scored music for the film. The first schedule of the shoot began in May 2008.

Soundtrack

Naalai Namadhe
Soundtrack album by Ramani Bharadwaj
Released	2009
Recorded	2009
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	15:38
Producer	Ramani Bharadwaj
Ramani Bharadwaj chronology
Vallamai Tharayo (2008) Naalai Namadhe (2009) Manjal Veiyil (2009)

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by film composer Ramani Bharadwaj. The soundtrack, released in 2009, features 4 tracks with lyrics written by Palani Bharathi.

Track	Song	Duration
1	'Thaai Mannil'	3:54
2	'Naalai Namadhe'	4:16
3	'Kadavul Pole'	4:07
4	'Pudi Pudi Pudi'	3:21

Reception

Sify called the film "Average" and said, "Naalai Namathe seems to be a movie with a message. The trouble is that there are quite a few messages strung together that gets garbled". Another critic stated, "'Naalai Namadhe' is a movie that begins with a purpose but eventually ends nowhere". Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com rated the film 1 out of 5 and said, "It should have been en emotional roller-coaster but this flick is more akin to a road-roller". Maudgalyan of Nowrunning.com rated the film 1 out of 5 and said, "Vinayan has handed out a big disappointment as the film in nothing but a mish-mash of fights, item numbers and crass comedy".