Director: Mani Ratnam; Producer: V. Srinivasan; Cinematographer: P.C. Sriram; Editor: B. Lenin, V.T. Vijayan; Cast: Kamal Haasan, Saranya Ponvannan, Karthika, Janakaraj, Vijayan, M.V. Vasudeva Rao, Delhi Ganesh, Nilalgal Ravi, Nazar, Tara, Babitha, R.N. Sudharshan, A.R.S, R.N.K. Prasad, R.N. Jayagopal, Koka Kapoor, J.N. Anand, R.J. Ratnakar, Pradeep Shakthi, Raja Krishnamurthy, Tinu Anand, Kuyili, Master Manikandan, Baby Meena, Master Saravana Kumar, Master Sasi Kumar, Baby Lakshmi, Master Udaykumar
Duration: 02:28:36; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 123.158; Saturation: 0.042; Lightness: 0.224; Volume: 0.285; Cuts per Minute: 11.641; Words per Minute: 35.205
Summary: Rathnam’s controversial breakthrough film is a
version of The Godfather (1972), based on the
life of the Bombay gangster Varadarajan
Mudaliar, played by Kamalahasan (at times
explicitly imitating Brando). Seeing his father, a
trade union activist, brutally murdered by the
police in Tuticorin, the son runs away to
Bombay and becomes Velu Naicker, the
ruthless Godfather with a Robin Hood streak in
the Dharavi slums, assisted by Ganesh in the
Robert Duval role. Velu becomes Bombay’s
minority Tamil population’s ‘Nayakan’ (hero/
star/leader) and saviour. His daughter Charu
(Karthika) walks out and marries the assistant
chief of police. Velu is eventually shot by a
mentally retarded youth (Anand) he had taken
into his care. Although Kamalahasan’s
performance was widely lauded, critics
like K. Hariharan noted that the degree to which
the star monopolises the film made ‘other
characters seem either underdeveloped or
perfunctory’. The cinematography takes its cue
from Gordon Willis while Thotha Tharani’s art
direction follows the conventions of
Hollywood gangster films and concentrates on
cars and decors. However, the film is more
than a Hollywood pastiche: it draws on 30
years of Tamil Nadu’s star/politician images
(including the spotless, all-white uniform of the
Tamil politician, chewing betel-leaf) and
directly plays to Tamil people’s anti-Hindi
feelings when Velu, beaten up, gives the
hugely popular reply in Tamil to a Hindispeaking
Bombay cop: ‘If I ever hit you, you
will die.’ The latter half of the film virtually
abandons Bombay as a location in favour of
studio interiors and goes to Madras for the
climax. The success of the film was crucial to
Mani Rathnam’s career, establishing him as the
leading Tamil director of his time.
Indiancine.ma requires JavaScript.
