Nayagan (1987)
Kamal Haasan. Mani Ratnam. The Godfather.
Simply put, Nayagan is one of the finest moments in Indian cinema. The story of Velu Naiker, an ordinary slum-dweller in Dharavi who goes on to become an underworld don and a hero for the Tamil dwellers in Mumbai mirrored -- or, at least, was inspired by -- the life and times of Vardarajan Mudaliar.
But it was Ratnam's script and Kamal Haasan's seemingly-effortless portrayal of a man whose criminal career is marked with triumph and tragedy that makes Nayagan an epic cinematic presentation.
There have been more trumpeted remakes of The Godfather in India, and even a Bollywood remake of Nayagan, but Mani's vision makes this film stand miles higher than all other efforts. It won three National awards -- Best Actor, Best Cinematography (PC Sriram) and Best Art Direction (Thotta Tharani); it was India's nomination for the Academy Awards in 1988 and, in 2005, was one of Time magazine's 100 Greatest Movies of all time.
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