This is a masterpiece from the director Manirathnam....a sensational performance by Kamalhassan...
extraordinary music by illayaraja..... naturally film is goin to be the best of the lot when u hav 3 dons of tamil industry joining their hands together.....
This film is actually based on the true life story of varadharaja mudaliyar a mumbai based don who did lot of good to the tamil people who lived in slums of mumbai. story, a brief idea:
When he was ten his father an union leader was killed since he led a strike...so he has to flee tomumbai to save his life....then how he becomes the don...how he helps the people forms the core of the story..
Cast and Characters: kamalhassan ....as ’’shaktivelu’’...better known as ’’velu nayakar’’......he has done an wonderful job...his role can be divided into 3 parts...one as angry young teenager...then a powerful man in his middle age....as a don when he is old...all the parts he has done well ...infact excellent... only flaw that has to be pointed out in his acting is he cannot cry naturally ...his crying looks very artificial....may be another one can also be pointed out...he has imitated marlon brando from godfather...
The next important role in this movie is Janakaraj ...as’’selva’’...the friend and associate of velu nayakar....he has done the role very perfectly.....most of us hav seen him as a commedian..but he has given a wonderful performance as a character artist.....he is the only person who lives with velu nayakar from his entry to mumbai till his death...his dearest friend and his right hand...........
Delhi Ganesh comes in role who ’s name is never uttered in the movie...everybody calls him’’iyer’’...he has done an extraordinary job....he does all translation for velu nayakar..since velu nayakar dosen’t know hindi...at a point of time when police capture him and ask whereabts abt velu nayakar he doesn’t reply and get thrashings from the police..when he meets nayakar again he says....’’ennaku engethu evalavu thairiyam vanthune theriyala..nan oru vartha sollala..’’(i don’t know here I got all this power to resist their blows on me... I didn’t open my mouth) is really moving scene....kudos to him
apart from this nassar as AC , nilalgal ravi as ’’surya’’ nayakar’s son........saranya as’’neena’’..naykar’s wife...a female as nayakar’s daughter(i couldn’t get her name)...hav done their role aptly....
Music:
The music certainly deserved to be mentioned...... both the songs and background music are excellent....
’’ne oru kadal sangeetham’’...is one of the greatest melody of all time.....
’’ne serithal deepavali’’ was very famous number those days....
’’anthi malai megum’’...is still a song which can be seen in tvs durin holi.....
’’nila adu vanthu melle’’...still if u hear it u may well hav a fun like mood...very excellent song sung by illayaraja himself....
The greatest of them all ’’then pandi semaiille....’’ the pathos song..which has very tender music is sure to catch anyone’s heart....this song is sung by kamal himself...this is regarded as best ever pathos song in tamil movie history...rahul dravid has once said this song is his fav. song.....
and the background score...u’ll find music only at required places .....very effective..one silence at required places...then whereever he has given music ..he makes his presence felt.....an excellent background score...
Art direction:
Thota tharani needs a special mention for his sets in this movie ...he has created a whole set which exactly depicts the slums of mumbai....it also said the set was made at extremely low cost.....
Dialogues:
The film has many dialogues..which are still remembered and used ....’’avangala nirutha sollu nan niruthuren’’(ask them all to stop i’ll stop) and ’’neega nalavara kettavara’’(are u a gud man or a bad man) are the most famous dialogues of the fil...these dialogues are even today used by vivek in some of his movies.... the dialogue on which the whole movie is based on’’ nallu peruku allathuna ...ethuvume thappilla’’(if something is going to do good for 4 people then nothing is wrong) are gem of dialogues.....kudos to the dialogue writter which I think is balakumaran(first mentioned it sujatha...one of mouthshut members corrected this in his comments)...
Direction:
The film is extremely well paced movie..at no point of time it is boaring...the director has taken up a story of don ..and looked into issuses why he had to jump into smuggling...abt his family...his service to his people.... the director has done a tremendous job...the movie at no point of time follows a normal formula tamil movie...it was trend setter....till now I hav not seen such a gud narrative film....film can be seen any no. of times u’ll always like it... flaws: the film has many things copied from the movie godfather:
kamal make up when he has grown old...same as brando’s make up...
kamal immitates brando...such as pausing while speaking and scraching his head...
scene where kamal does rituals for his wife’s funeral all his enimies getting killed...similar to killing of all enemies of the family when al pacino performs rituals to become godfather of his sister’s children.....
One reddiar brother being killed in same fashion as tattaglia’s head gets killed while having sex with a prostitute...
Other reddiar brother getting killed in the same way as carlo gets killed in the car by clemenza...
ARS comming and askin nayakar to avenge the people who raped her daughter similar to amerigo bonasera the undertaker askin the don to take revenge on the people who assaulted his dughter while trying to rape her.... yes some flaws r there .....but it takes ur satisfaction only by .1 % .....u feel 99.9 % satsisfied with this movie...its a must see movie...in no way its godfather’s remake...it jus has few scences inspire from it... very gud movie to watch...and the song thenpandy semaiile is to be hear atleast once by all... any way the films name is not velu nayakan as mentioned...its ’’nayagan’’ (hero)...velu nayakan is the hindi dubbed version of this movie...the hindi remake of this movie was titled dayavan.