Best movie of this year hands down!

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I am very privileged to write this review for my hero, actor Kamal Hassan. I have seen most of his well known films: Sadma, Ek Duje Ke Liye, Saagar, Appu Raja, Hindustani, Puspak (a.k.a. The Love Chariot 1988), Chachi 420.I adore all the above films of his. You can collect of the above movies and it will be a good collection to start with.This film written and directed by Mani Ratnan, got rave reviews across India. Kamal Hassan's performance in this film earned him a Best Actor award. Maniratnam earned accolades from all over India and became popular overnight.The film also earned National Award for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.Nayagan (which means 'Hero' or 'Leader') is based on the real-life Bombay underworld don Varada or Varadarajan Mudaliar, and sympathetically depicts the struggle of South Indians living in Bombay (now Mumbai). The lead character is played by Kamal Haasan, and 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.[1] The film was remade in Hindi as Dayavan in 1988, with Vinod Khanna playing the part of Saktivelu and with Feroz Khan and Madhuri Dixit playing the roles of Selvam and Neela. A dubbed version of the film was released as Velu Nayakan in 1999.Plot: Sakthivelu Nayakar (Kamal Hassan), 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, and is later 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 nerutha solu, appuram naan neruthuran. 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.The film has some very emotional moments: when Velu's wife his shot and he covers his children's eyes with her scarf, which eventually slips from his hands. When Velu visits his daughter's house for the very first time and is not allowed see his grandson. And towards the end when he learns that his daughter has given her son his own name. He wants to give his grandson some money as a gift to him, he reaches into his pocket and finds none. The final scene in the movie shows Velu dead lying on the same street in which he fought for the people and which he grew up on. I broke down crying when I saw that scene.Buy this great film on DVD, and watch it with your family and friends.GOD BLESS KAMAL HASSAN.Write to me Vivekmaru45@yahoo.com if you are a Kamal Hassan fan like me and we can chat about his films.Thanks for reading.

This movie by Maniratnam is definitely one of the finest movie ever made on the planet. It has got tremendous performance by Kamal Hassan who portrays various shades of emotions. The cinematography by PC Sriram is excellent. The movie should have definitely won Academy awards for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Actor and Best director. It begins with a young boy who has lost his father and comes to Bombay from his village and the social pressures makes him a Don-a saviour for the Tamil community of the slum area-Dharavi. The film shows various stages of Velu to Velu Nayakar. VeluNayakan is the modern day Robinhood who protects his folks in all the ways he can.Amazing screenplay and the natural lightings used throughout the film speaks for the cinematography. Best scenes are Velu Nayakar standing on the balcony of his house and people standing down..amazingly shotThe movie very well captures the life of a Mumbai based Don. Kudos to Maniratnam for Nayakan.

this film is an out an out kamal hassan and Mani ratnam film, without Mani ratnam kamal would not have been able to display his magic, and without kamal, Mani would not have been able to show his magic. velu is a boy living in Tamil nadu. his father a labor leader is murdered by a ruthless police officer. velu decides to take revenge, and is supported by his friend, Sela(janagaraj). they both kill the police officer, and escape to Bombay, where they get shelter in a Muslim house hold. kamal naturally treats "Abba" the Muslim man, who is into smuggling. when he gets old he hands the small business to velu, who extracts more money for goods than his precede ever did. the rival parties get angry and pay bribe to a police man to get Abba killed. when velu gets to know this, he tracks down the police officer tactically. i must stop here to mention the marvellous sequence . great background score, Mani ratnam at his best, and kamal looking totally angry. he kills the police officer in front of everybody. the police officer though married used to molest women. the police came inquiring, but no one opened their mouth. from that day onwards velu became 'velu nayagan'. he became the ultimate don in Bombay, supporting the poor's cause, and going to any extent to fulfill it. he even got a poor child treatment in one of the best hospitals in Bombay for free. you must watch the movie, i can't spell its magic here, you have to watch it!

It is really difficult to express the experience of watching nayakan in words, the real life story about the transformation of a boy into a rebel and then a don, brilliantly portrayed by one of the greatest actors alive today, Kamal Hassan.While the film draws little inspiration from "The Godfather trilogy", the emotions and trauma associated with many events , along with ilayaraja's rendition of 'thenpandi seemayile' , really does make this movie very special!, nothing to beat this one, among the best movies i have ever seen. I can rate it along with American beauty, shawshank redemption or even amelie.