Nayakan

Inspired by the true life story of Mumbai's Tamil don, Varadaraja Mudaliar, the movie 'Nayakan' portrays it so vividly and realistically of how the real-time character known popularly as 'Varadha Bhai' fled Tuticorin(Tamil Nadu) to seek his future in Mumbai. He came to be known as one of the godfathers of modern gangsterdom. Some other prominent names during his period were Karim Lala, etc. The days he spent fighting Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray who tried to run the Tamils out of Mumbai are golden days in history. Probably, the respect and influence Varadaraj Mudaliar had among the public inspired people like Dawood Ibrahim and others to take to such businesses. Mani Ratnam deserves full credit for the subject and screenplay. Kamal Hassan at the best of his career at an age of 32 playing the character of a 60-year-old man so perfectly with utmost ease.