Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

MartinHafer This film is supposed to be based on the life of mobster Varadarajan Mudaliar. However, when I read up on this criminal's career, it was quite different from the guy in this film--very. While both were apparently beloved by the community, Mudaliar's real life death was incredibly boring and was nothing like the film. Additionally, while Mudaliar might have been a good guy in some ways, in real life he was responsible for the sale of narcotics--something not exactly heroic. There are probably man other differences. Suffice to say, the film is fiction."Nayakan" begins with a little boy being beaten by some cops. They want to know where the boy's father is but the kid won't talk. So, they let him go and follow at a distance. Then, when they found the father, they murdered him. his offense--being a union organizer. Later, at the funeral, the young boy, Ratnavelu, grabs a knife and stabs one of the policemen there. He then runs off to Mumbai (far from his Tamil roots in Southern India) and lives life on the streets--with no family and no home.Years pass. Now Ratnavelu is an adult and has learned the life on the streets well. Now he's a mobster--a mob boss who is adored by the poor. Considering his childhood, this shouldn't come as a big surprise. However, like Robin Hood, Ratnavelu ALSO tries to bring justice to the poor and is a very just man--in his own way. There's MUCH more to this movie than this--just see the film for yourself to see.Some of what is bad about this film is not the fault of the filmmakers and will only cause issues if you watch the Pyramid DVD. This is because too much of the dialog is NOT captioned! Why?! It could be worse--but at least they captioned the songs--something other video companies often don't do! Another problem I don't blame the filmmakers for is the tinny sounding music (yes, singing in a gangster film). In ALL the 70s and 80s Indian films I've seen, the sound of the music was pretty terrible. Fortunately, newer Indian films are VERY professional--among the best made and produced films in the world. What the filmmakers could have done better was the direction and editing. In one sloppy scene, the rooftop changes mid-scene--and as the sun went down, the two scenes were probably separated by 15 minutes or so--making the sun seem VERY weird in India! Apart from these cosmetic problems, the film was excellent. If you are making a film to glorify mobsters and make the police evil, you couldn't have done a better job. An interesting script and nice acting sure helped. Well worth seeing.

ygodson Nayakan is the story of an ordinary man named Velunayakar who lives among the Tamil community in Mumbai.He fights for the needy and against a landlord and kills a policeman in a brawl and in that process becomes a Don.This movie starts with Velu's resurgence and ends with his death. Kamal is impressive and he gives one of his trademark performance.Many of Hollywood blokes might not have heard of Kamal.Take my word,He is the finest actor,the world has ever seen(even better than M.Brando and T.Hanks).If you think "The Godfather" is the best cult movie,try Nayakan.Even though I hate gangster movies and its derivatives,Nayakan gets-9/10.. Kamal Hassan and Mani Rathnam deserve every bit of it.

K Reddy If it is featured in the time magazine's 100 all time movies from all over the world, then it must be something. Mani Ratnam has done some great movies in south India. I like all his movies. And he pays more attention to all the details of the movie such as music, photography, casting, editing etc. You can see the quality of the movie and see the involvement of the director in the movie. I treat this more as a Mani Ratnam movie than Kamal Hasan though Kamal is one of my favorite actors. Go rent the movie. You will not be disappointed. Also, check out Mani Ratnam's other movies such as Roja, Mouna Raagam (Telugu), Githanjali, Sakhi, Iddaru, Guru etc. Also, in case you didn't already know, A R Rahman was introduced by Mani Ratnam through Roja. Check out. http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/the_complete_list.html

s_ravi85 This movie rotates around a single person, Kamal Hassan. Its simply an amazing movie and full credits to the director Mani Ratnam and Kamal for their brilliant, extraordinary, great, satisfying,superb work... No words to say. better u watch the moviein Nayakan all the characters have done an excellent work. Music by Ilayaraja the maestro himself and his works definitely needs recognition all over the world. Even now the songs are worth hearing and very very great.The camera man has done an beautiful work and full credits to him for bringing out an excellent picture to our eyes..The greatness of the movie is that it shows all the stages of men, and Kamal's acting shows his true potential and his exceeding talent, its a proud feeling for me to know that the hero is in tamil industry and speaking my language.Watch this movie and enjoy the movie as much as i did . . . . . . . . . .