Naan Kadavul

Naan Kadavul
Theatrical poster of the film Theatrical poster
Directed by	Bala
Produced by	K. S. Sreenivasan
Screenplay by	Jeyamohan
Story by	Jeyamohan
Based on	Yezhaam Ulagam by Jeyamohan
Starring	Arya Pooja Rajendran Krishnamoorthy
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	Arthur A. Wilson
Edited by	Suresh Urs
Production company	Vasan Visual Ventures
Distributed by	Vasan Visual Ventures Pyramid Saimira
Release dates	6 February 2009 (2009-02-06)
Running time	127 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹7 crore

Naan Kadavul (English: I am God) is a 2009 Indian Tamil drama film co-written and directed by Bala. Based on the Tamil novel Yezhaam Ulagam by Jeyamohan—who also penned the dialogues for the film—the film features Arya and Pooja in the lead roles.The film was also dubbed in Hindi as Pandav — The Punch

The film revolves around Rudran (Arya), who in his childhood was left in Varanasi by his parents only to become an aghori. Years later he is brought back to Tamil Nadu, his homeland where he encounters a new world of physically and mentally challenged beggars. Rudran happens to immoral Amsavalli (Pooja), is an ugly blind girl being controlled by Thandavan, a local thug and his henchmen. In the end, Rudran kills Thandavan and joins his mentor in Varanasi.

The film produced by K. S. Sreenivasan and jointly distributed by Vasan Visual Ventures and Pyramid Saimira, had background score and soundtrack composed by Ilaiyaraaja. Arthur A. Wilson handled the cinematography while Suresh Urs looks after the editing. The film had been in making for over three years, finally released on 6 February 2009. Upon release the film received critical acclaim, winning one National Film Awards, including the Best Make-up Artist for U.K. Sasi, two Vijay Awards, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. It was not successful at the box office as well.

Plot

For astrological reasons, a father leaves his son Rudran (Arya) in Kasi. Fourteen years later, repenting his act he goes with his daughter in search of him. He finds him there but is shocked to learn that he has become an Aghori, a cannibalistic character who gives moksha and prevents the soul from getting rebirth. Nevertheless he brings him back to Tamil Nadu. The story takes a turn here and introduces us to the world of physically and mentally challenged beggars. A world controlled by the cruel Thandavan (Rajendran). Hamsavalli (Pooja Umashankar) is an ugly blind girl with deformative woman is forcefully separated from her troupe and made to join the beggars. Soon she becomes another victim of Thandavan's cruelty. Meanwhile, Rudran leaves his house to find his place on a small cave, and soon agreements Hamsavalli, who tries her worst to convince him to return home, but fails. Thandavan then takes a deal with a Malayali man of the same profession to sell some of the beggars.The Malayali guy forcefully takes the beggars away,although they want to stay with the rest of the beggars. He returns again,but this time to force he to marry an ugly, deformed woman for 10-lakhs worth of money. Thandavan orders his men to bring Hamsavalli but they take Hamsavalli to Rudran to help her. Rudran kills the Malayali guy and is also arrested by the local Police. This agitates Thandavan and he orders the Police man to release Rudran so that he can kill him. In the mean time Thandavan also finds Hamsavalli and on one incident, he refuses to marry the deformative girl,which angers him and he runs away without marrying her. This angers Thandavan, who deeply wounds her. Rudran is shown wounded in his forehead with blood oozing out. Flashback opens where Thandavan appears face to face with Rudran. In the fight between the two, Rudran kills Thandavan. Rudran's wound in the forehead is caused due to the fight. She later goes crying to Rudran to somehow free from this curse and also prevent her from rebirth. Rudran gets angry because of marry an ugly, deformed woman. The aghori then kills her and grants her moksha. In the final scene Rudran returns to Kasi.

Cast

• Arya as Rudran
• Pooja as Hamsavalli
• Rajendran as Thandavan
• Krishnamoorthy as Murugan
• Azhagan Thamizhmani as Rudran's father
• Singampuli
• Aacharya Ravi
• Rasaiya Kannan

Production

After the release of Pithamagan (2003), Bala began to work on a script for a film for which he sought inspiration from a scene in Anbe Sivam which had inspired him to make his film, referring to a scene where Kamal Haasan states to Madhavan that "when we love others unconditionally without any expectation, we become Gods". It was announced that the film would star Ajith Kumar in the lead role and produced by A. M. Rathnam. Ajith signed a contract for the film stating that he would work in the film for 150 days, and the project was titled Naan Kadavul. However Ratnam, the producer of the film dropped out in December 2004, opting to concentrate on his Telugu film Bangaram and his son's venture, Kedi. Early sources indicated that Cleeny, sister of actress Gopika, would play the lead role in the film although this later proved to be untrue and Meera Jasmine was selected. As pre-production work continued, Ajith grew his hair for the role and subsequently appeared in a song in the much-delayed film, Varalaru with the long hair he grew for Naan Kadavul, when doing patchwork. The film was briefly shelved in August 2005 and Ajith moved on to sign other films such as P. Vasu's Paramasivan, which was initially set to be produced by Bala, and Perarasu's Thirupathi. The film then re-emerged and in April 2006, Bala announced the technical crew of the film revealing that Arthur A. Wilson would be cinematographer, Krishnamoorthy as art director and that Ilaiyaraaja would score the film's music. Pre-production on the film began in early 2006, with Bala's assistants already scouting for ideal filming locations in the city of Varanasi. Ajith announced that the shoot of the film would start in the city in May 2006, with the actor refusing to speculate the story of the film. However as the film yet again failed to take off, Ajith finally pulled out of the project in June 2006 stating he could wait no longer for Bala.

Suriya was named as a potential replacement, but the actor was committed to several other films during the period. It was reported that Narain, who also made his debut with Chithiram Pesuthadi, would do the role but producers wanted a more saleable name, and hence Arya was signed up. Arya was eager to appear in the film but had already given dates to Saran for Vattaram, and unsuccessfully attempted to drop out of that film to allot dates for Naan Kadavul. Saran's refusal meant that Arya had to wait and complete the film before joining Bala's team. Bhavana was signed for the film after the success of Chithiram Pesuthadi, replacing Meera Jasmine. Ravi, director of Vignesh starrer Aacharya and Kannan, director of Raasaiyya, made their debuts as actors with this film. Rajendran, a fight master who earlier appeared in a small role in director Bala's previous film Pithamagan was selected to play main villain thus making his debut as full-fledged actor. The film also introduced 175 new faces to the screen in which most of them being physically challenged people. The film was consequently launched in June 2006 at Hotel Green Park, Chennai with P. L. Thenappan's Sri Rajalakshmi Films as producers.

The photo shoot of the film was held in August 2006 with Arya and Bhavana and images of Arya were released showing him in different postures of Yoga including Sirasasanam and Padmasanam. The film's first schedule began later that month in Nazarethpettai, near Chennai. Shoots continued in Kasi and Varanasi in January 2007, with Arya opting against working in any other films till Naan Kadavul was complete. Producer Thennapan also backed out of the film in early 2007 but Srinivasan of Vasan Visual Ventures took over swiftly.

Bhavana also walked out of the film in early 2007 as she was unable to allot dates for the film and a search for another new cast member began. Meenakshi, Anjali and Parvathi Menon were heavily linked to the role to replace Bhavana, but Bala opted against selecting either. Subsequently Karthika, who had been seen in small budget films such as Thootukudi and Pirappu, was booked as heroine and she was made to beg in the streets of Periyakulam during an audition. However Bala was still unimpressed. Hindi actress, Neetu Chandra, was flown down to Theni for a test shoot but Bala felt she did not have the looks for the role of a beggar girl. Actress Pooja was later finalised as lead actress in September 2007 and joined the sets of the film in Periyakulam in late 2007. She revealed that she went to the audition of the film only after being compelled by director Seeman and thought twice about accepting the film due to her commitments in a Sinhalese film, before the producer of that film released her from her contract.

Soundtrack

This film features 7 songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The audio was released on 1 January 2009. Lyrics have been penned by Vaali except for the track Pitchai Paathiram which has been penned by Ilayaraja himself and the title song "Maa Ganga" written by Bharath Achaarya. The song "Matha Un Kovilil" was reused from Raja's own song which he had composed for Achchani (1978).

• Maa Ganga - Kunal Ganjawala
• Om Sivoham - Vijay Prakash
• Kannil paarvai - Shreya Ghoshal
• Matha un kovilil - Srimathumitha
• Amma un pillai naan - Sadhana Sargam
• Oru kaatril alaiyum - Ilayaraaja
• Pitchai paathiram - Madhu Balakrishnan

Release

Critical response

"It was a tough subject to deal with" ... "Bala has deftly handled the film. Frankly, I never expected a film like Naan Kadavul from Tamil. That shows how different Bala is in his thinking and approach Bala is unique in many ways."

—Malayalam film-maker Shaji N. Karun who headed the jury of the 56th National Film Awards

Rediff wrote:"Naan Kadavul is definitely worth a watch for its superb secondary characters, setting and music. Now, if only the screenplay had provided the missing punch". Behindwoods wrote:"Naan Kadavul is not a movie that everyone can digest. It shows reality in such brutality that you wonder whether such things really do happen. It cannot be called violent; the word ‘brutal’ has to be repeated often to describe the movie. One feels the director could have toned it down a bit, it leaves one very disturbed". Sify wrote:"It's a much darker film than the director’s previous works. Watch Naan Kadavul, because it's one of those films that won't easily get out of your head long after the film is over". Indiaglitz wrote:"In one word, Naan Kadavul is a movie to cherish and celebrate". Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan in its review dated 18 February 2009 gave 42 marks and mentioned that "It is Bala's celestial dance which makes us tremble.. The film's backdrop is new and for the new experience it offers and for the huge effort from Bala, this film is worth a watch". Actor Rajinikanth was in full praise of Naan Kadavul, citing it as an extraordinary work on screen and congratulated them for their meticulous efforts.

Accolades

Award	Category	Nominee	Outcome
56th National Film Awards	Best Director	Bala	Won
	Best Make-up Artist	U.K. Sasi	Won
57th Filmfare Awards South	Best Tamil Actress	Pooja	Nominated
	Best Tamil Director	Bala	Nominated
	Best Tamil Actor	Arya	Nominated
	Best Tamil Film	K. S. Sreenivasan	Nominated
	Best Tamil Supporting Actor	Rajendran	Nominated
	Best Tamil Lyricist	Ilayaraja for "Pitchai Paathiram"	Nominated
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards	Best Female Character Artiste	Pooja	Nominated
	Best Villain	Rajendran	Won
	Best Cinematographer	Arthur Wilson	Won
Vijay Awards	Best Director	Bala	Nominated
	Best Actress	Pooja	Nominated
	Best Villain	Rajendran	Won
	Best Make up	U.K. Sasi	Won

External links

• Naan Kadavul at IMDb