Nayak: The Real Hero

Nayak - The Real Movie. A Great movie. A thoughtful process.

Nayak has it all. It's no family drama with some crying trash thrown in. It's a thoughtful and a gripping story with exhilarating performances. Rahman's music is excellent. His typical Western Classical beats mixed with traditional Indian music with some Marathi influence. Picturization is brilliant especially in the song, Saiyaan. South Influence is not very imminent here unlike my friend who thinks it is, and believe me influence cannot make a movie good. It's the great story that grips the audience and Shankar's brilliance. I urge Shankar to make more movies or Hindi directors to remake some of his movies so we don't have to tolerate Aditya Chopra trash anymore.

After achieving fair amount of success dubbing his Tamil blockbusters - Kadhalan (1994) and Indian (1996) - in Hindi (as Humse Hai Muqabla and Hindustani respectively), noted Tamil director S. Shankar decided to make his first Hindi film which would be an official remake of his Tamil hit called Mudhalvan (1999).

Anil Kapoor played the honest diligent TV reporter who gets to interview the corrupt chief minister (CM) Amrish Puri and attempts to expose his indifference which lead to State riots. In a knee jerk response, the CM offers his chair to the reporter for a day and Anil Kapoor ends up becoming the 'Ek Din Ka CM'.

The interview sequence is the films highlight and both, Anil Kapoor and Amrish Puri, are brilliant here. The economic as well as political measures Anil Kapoor takes on becoming the CM also makes for an interesting watch.

On the flipside, Rani Mukerjee's romantic track with Kapoor acts as a speed breaker to the narrative and even AR Rahman's score is not up to the mark.

Corruption has been Shankar's recurring theme right from Gentleman (1993) to Anniyan (2005). Nayak also deals with his pet topic and offers food for thought that we need to elect well educated and well intention candidates to power.

Despite being a box office failure, Nayak earned its due later on satellite television to emerge a cult classic. I had seen the film at Chitra cinema, Dadar on its first Sunday and still catch it whenever it comes on tv. Good and still relevant cinema!

One of the movies which can be watched over and over again in between some days gap and you won't get bored.

I recommend it to all.

Tone, Script & Story: The movie is how a press reporter is challenged to be a C.M for one day and continues to be in the long run as well. The tone of corrupt by many official's as well as being an ideal social servant by other few official's is portrayed well. The script is tight and it keeps you in your seat till end.

It is sad how on thebasis of factors like caste, category and formed groups, formulate such violence. People belonging to such faction possess low I.Q and thus formulate violence even without knowing whole truth. It's a shame, that they can't act wisely.

Direction, Screenplay, Cinematography: Direction of S. Shankar is good. Screenplay and cinematography is good as well, except for the part where I dint like animated serpents. Music: Music is good too. Acting: Acting from all leads is good as well.

Final Verdict: Well addressed thriller on being a true social servant. Worth adding to your collection.

This is a remake of Shankar's own south film Madhalvan in Hindi. The south Whizz kid director has made an awesome spectacle of a film with Nayak.

It is a definite must see. Rahman's music is superb, 'shaka laka baby!' to say the least. This film contains superior special effects and CGI for it's time, unlike others who have no sense of using CGI effectively and non garishly, Shankar has created beautiful sequences for the songs. The cinematography is breathtaking, a joy to the eye. The South influence is very imminent, that is what makes this film so good along with a bravura performance from Anil Kapoor and the sensuous Rani Mukerjee although underused only adds to the films beauty.