Nayakan ( ) is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language epic crime drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. Produced by Muktha Srinivasan, the film stars Kamal Haasan and Saranya (in her feature debut) in the lead, with Janagaraj, Karthika, Vijayan, M. V. Vasudeva Rao, Delhi Ganesh, Nizhalgal Ravi, Nassar and Tara in supporting roles. It revolves around the evolution of Velu Naicker (Haasan) from an ordinary slum dweller to a highly respected crime lord in the Bombay underworld.
Nayakan is loosely based on the life of the Bombay underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar and the American film The Godfather (1972). Ratnam was initially approached to remake the Hindi film Pagla Kahin Ka (1970) for Srinivasan and Haasan, but refused. He instead suggested two other stories, one of which impressed Haasan and became Nayakan. Cinematography was handled by P. C. Sreeram, and editing by B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan. Filming began in late 1986, taking place primarily in Madras and to a lesser extent, Bombay.
Nayakan was released on 21 October 1987, Diwali day. The film became a critical and commercial success, running for over 175 days in theatres. It won the National Film Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Haasan), Best Cinematography (Sreeram) and Best Art Direction (Thota Tharani). The film was India's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 60th Academy Awards. It was also screened as "Kamal Haasan Focus" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands. Nayakan was selected as one of the 100 greatest films of all time by the American magazine TIME. It was also selected as one of the 100 best Indian films of all time by the British magazine Time Out. The film was remade in Hindi as Dayavan (1988).
Plot In Tamil Nadu, young Sakthivel "Velu" is arrested by the police, and a police inspector tricks him into revealing the whereabouts of his anti-government union leader father. The police track his father and the inspector kills him. After witnessing his fathers funeral, an enraged Velu stabs the inspector to death before fleeing to Bombay. Sitting in the beach all alone after reaching Mumbai without anyone a kind hearted boy from a slum whose name is Selva witnessing this takes him to a house where he is adopted by Hussain, a benevolent smuggler residing in the Dharavi slums. Years later, when Hussain falls ill, a young adult Velu manages a smuggling operation on his behalf. Velu's demand for a higher commission enrages Durai and his team of rival smugglers, who conspire with a corrupt police inspector, Kelkar, to arrest Hussain and murder him in custody under the guise of suicide. Velu enraged learning the truth, executes Kelkar by hitting him with a hammer. Driven by guilt, he quietly supports Kelkar's widow and mentally disabled son, Ajit; the widow, recognizing her husband’s corruption, accepts the aid.
Velu later rescues Neela, a young schoolgirl forced into prostitution, and marries her. They have two children, Surya and Charumathi. Velu’s influence grows exponentially as he protects the Dharavi residents, establishing himself as a parallel authority. When rival smugglers, the Reddy brothers, lose a high-stakes maritime smuggling bet to Velu, they launch a retaliatory assassination attempt through their men. Velu survives, but Neela is killed. After executing the first Reddy brother with a gun and having Selva and his men kill the remaining Reddy Brothers in revenge, a devastated Velu sends his children to Madras for their safety.
Decades later, Velu has transitioned into an unchallenged underworld don affectionately called "Velu Naicker." Surya and Charumathi return as adults. Surya gradually joins his father's syndicate, but during a police pursuit following a botched operation in which Surya had his assassin kill a former men of Velu who agreed to testify against him. the police manage to track Surya and his assassin, and as they attempt to flee from the police Surya accidentally hits a petrol station causing an explosion which kills him and his assassin. Blaming her father's violent lifestyle for her brother's death, Charumathi severs all ties with Velu.
Years later, a relentless new Assistant commissioner of police, Patil, arrives with a directive to dismantle Bombay's criminal empires, prioritizing Naicker. When Velu schedules a meeting with Patil, he discovers that the ACP is married to Charumathi. As Patil launches a sweeping crackdown and arrests Velu's inner circle, Velu goes into hiding. Seeing so many of his allies suffering in hospital with pain driven with grief, Velu coordinates a peaceful surrender through Charumathi.
At his trial, the prosecution's case collapses because the public, out of fierce loyalty, refuses to testify against Naicker. Desperate, Patil locates Kelkar's widow and the adult Ajit, urging them to reveal the truth of the decades-old murder. The widow staunchly defends Velu's righteousness and refuses to cooperate, but a shocked Ajit learns for the first time that Velu killed his biological father. Due to a total lack of evidence, the court exonerates Velu. Overcome with emotion, Velu briefly reconciles with Charumathi and meets his young grandson, Shaktivel. As a frail Velu steps onto the courthouse stairs to greet a massive crowd of adoring supporters, Ajit emerges and shoots him dead avenging his father’s death. Velu dies surrounded by his mourning people as Ajit is apprehended lifetime.
Cast
Production Development
In the mid-1980s, Muktha Srinivasan narrated a story inspired by the American film The Godfather (1972) to Sivaji Ganesan who agreed to act in the film. Amala and Kamal Haasan were also confirmed to act. However Ananthu, then an associate of Haasan, felt that it would be a Ganesan-focused film and not a Haasan film. The project was dropped. Haasan later told Srinivasan about the-then upcoming director Mani Ratnam. Ratnam had previously wanted to cast Haasan as the protagonist in his directorial debut, Pallavi Anu Pallavi (1983), but the collaboration could not materialise then as Haasan was committed to Raja Paarvai (1981) at that time.
Srinivasan came to Ratnam's house and gave him an envelope, which contained a cassette of the Hindi film Pagla Kahin Ka (1970). Ratnam, after watching the film, met Haasan and rejected the offer to remake the film. After Haasan asked him the kind of film he preferred to make, Ratnam suggested two stories: one was in the action genre similar to Dirty Harry (1971) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984), while the other was based on the life of the Bombay underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar; the latter was finalised. Ratnam had earlier narrated this story, when it was only an idea, to producer R. C. Prakash, but it was not picked up then. Cinematography for Nayakan was handled by P. C. Sreeram, and editing by B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan.
Casting In September 1986, Haasan gave his schedule dates for the film to Srinivasan, and was paid 17.5 lakh (US$145,583 in 1987) for playing Velu. Ratnam wanted Haasan to have as realistic a look as possible. He preferred Haasan in traditional Hindu attire. Haasan was initially hesitant regarding his look and wanted to sport a beard similar to that of his old-aged look in Sagara Sangamam (1983), as he felt it would not give away his jaw line, which would reveal that the character was portrayed by a younger person. Ratnam, in turn, did not want Haasan to sport a look similar to Sagara Sangamam or any of his other previous films. Haasan ultimately sported dentures to provide some weight around his jaw for Velu's old-age look.
Neela, the wife of Velu, was played by Saranya, who made her debut in the film. The character was created by Srinivasan to reduce the violent content and help the film cater to family audiences. Ratnam wanted a "new face" to portray Neela as he felt only then the character would have the required zest and gusto. Saranya sent her photograph to Ratnam to audition for the role. She was later cast after a successful screen test. Saranya's father was against her being cast, but she and her mother managed to convince him. Though Ratnam has stated that Saranya was "the first and only person we saw for the role", Debashree Roy claimed that she was approached, but refused as she considered that speaking in Tamil would be difficult for her. The dubbing voice for Saranya was provided by actress Uma Bharani. According to Suhasini, Ratnam considered her for the role of Velu's daughter Charumati; however, the role ultimately went to Karthika.
Ratnam believes that Nassar was suggested to him by Haasan, when Raghuvaran was being considered for the role of the assistant commissioner Patil. Raghuvaran declined as the script required him to cut his hair short. Nassar shot for six days and initially believed there was nothing special in his role. He later admitted his surprise of the reach of his character post-release. Although Tara was then known mainly for playing leading roles, she accepted the supporting role of Velu's sister Shakila. She later recalled, "I didn't know what to accept and what to reject. I just grabbed whatever was offered irrespective of the character. That was a mistake." Raja Krishnamoorthy (later known as Kitty), then the General Manager at Royal Enfield, quit to portray Velu's father, with Nayakan being his debut film. Haasan wanted Tinnu Anand for the role of Ajit, the son of Inspector Kelkar (Pradeep Shakthi). Anand was reluctant since he wanted to focus on his career as a director, but after Haasan insisted, Anand accepted.
Filming Ratnam initially planned to complete the shooting in 60 days and 70 rolls of film. The initial budget was 60 lakh (US$500,000 in 1987), but time and cost overruns increased the budget to beyond 1 crore (US$830,000 in 1987). According to Srinivasan, principal photography commenced in November 1986 and the first schedule lasted for 10 days, but the scenes shot during this period were scrapped because Haasan disliked them, prompting script rewrites and causing shooting to be delayed; the rewritten script had more violence, and scenes taken from The Godfather and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). According to Ratnam, a three-day test shoot involving Haasan, unknown to Srinivasan, was done in December 1986 as the script was not yet complete. While the shots taken did not make the final cut, they helped to get the technical aspects of the film on the right track.
Ratnam said the first "real schedule" of Nayakan began in January 1987. 15 days of shooting took place in the slum areas of Dharavi. Using photographs taken there, the art director Thota Tharani created a set at Venus Studios in Madras. Thousands of junior artists were hired to recreate the atmosphere of the slum areas. Additionally, pigeons were brought for the same. Haasan helped in the make-up for the other actors in the film and asked Janagaraj and Delhi Ganesh to cut their hair so as to make their characters Selvam and Iyer in their old age scenes look convincing. One scene involved Velu telling Iyer, "Udamba paathukonga" () and Ganesh spontaneously said "Naa poraen. Naa irundhu enna panna poraen. Nee nalla irukkanum, Naickerae" (); an impressed Haasan told Ratnam to retain the improvised dialogue. Haasan used attar perfume for the female cast.