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US Premiere • New 35mm Print
NAYAKAN (Hero)
(1987) Directed by Mani Rathnam
Chosen by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 best films, Mani Rathnam’s career-making thriller has aged amazingly well, due in large part to Kamal Haasan’s nuanced dramatic acting in the title role. This godfather look-alike was based on the career of real-life Tamil-born boss-of-bosses Varadarajan Mudaliar, who ruled Bombay’s Dharavi slums in the 1970s. Kamal Haasan plays the lightly fictionalized Velu, the son of a murdered union leader who becomes a smuggler and then a lordly mob boss who sticks up for the downtrodden. Rathnam carefully preserves the dignity and the credibility of his gang lord anti-hero by never asking him to synch to playback; the de rigueur musical duties are always justified by narrative context (a floor show in a brothel) or handed off to a high spirited side-kick (Janakaraj). When Velu does kick up his heels during a festival celebration, in a moment of personal triumph, he kicks them up in character.
Producer/Screenwriter: M. Rathnam. Cinematographer: P.C. Sriram. Music Director: Ilaiyaraja. Lyricists: Ilaiyaraja, Pulamai Pithan. With: Kamal Haasan, Saranya, M.V. Vasudeva Rao, Janakaraj. 35mm, in Tamil with English subtitles, 155 min.
