''Naalai Namadhe'' () is a 2009 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

film directed by

Vinayan T. G. Vinayakumar, professionally credited as Vinayan, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. He has directed 40 Malayalam films and 4 Tami ...

. The film stars newcomer Pradeep,

Sharwanand Myneni Sharwanand (born 6 March 1984), known mononymously as Sharwanand, is an Indian actor and producer who primarily works in Telugu films alongside a few Tamil films. He made his acting debut in 2004 with the film ''Aidho Tareekhu''. He i ...

Sanusha Sanusha Santhosh is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. She started her career as a child artist to leading actress and supporting character roles. She also appears in some Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films too. Ear ...

Karthika Mathew Karthika Mathew (born Lidiya Jacob), better known mononymously as Karthika, is an Indian former actress, who has appeared in several Malayalam and Tamil films Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of m ...

Kiran Rathod Kiran Rathod (born 11 January 1981) is an Indian content creator and actress. She is well known for her appearance in Tamil films. Rathod has established herself in Kollywood. She also appears in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. She is ...

and

Oviya Helen Nelson, (born 29 April 1991) better known professionally by her stage name Oviya, is an Indian actress who works in the Tamil and Malayalam films also appeared in few Kannada and Telugu films. She made her breakthrough as an actress i ...

(in her Tamil debut) with

Manivannan Manivannan (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013) was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, voice artist, playback singer and social activist who worked in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning three decades, he went from being a story and ...

Ashish Vidyarthi Ashish Vidyarthi (born 19 June 1965) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Odia, Marathi and Bengali films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he receive ...

, Rajan P. Dev,

Tanikella Bharani Tanikella Bharani (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, poet and playwright who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has worked as an actor in more than 750 films, including few in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi; while he was al ...

M. S. Bhaskar Muthupettai Somu Bhaskar (born 13 September 1957) is an Indian actor and dubbing artiste who appears in Tamil films. His career begun as a theatre artist, and he made his debut in 1987 in a minor role in the film '' Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi'' ...

, and

Charle Velmurugan Thangasamy Manohar (born 6 March 1960), professionally credited as Charle, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. He has acted in more than 800 Tamil films as a comedian and supporting actor. He was named after the English co ...

playing supporting roles. It was released on 10 April 2009. The film was dubbed into

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

as ''India Today'' and was released on 10 April 2014.

Plot

Udayappa is a wealthy businessman who donates 1800 crores for charity purpose in his district. He requests the district collector Priya Alexander to entrust the job of spending the money to two slum-dwellers, Mani and his adopted son Ramu. Udayappa instructs to use the money to build houses for slum dwellers. One night, the drunk Raju, the son of the greedy politician Mahaganapathy, attempts to rape Mani's adopted daughter Shanthi, but the prostitute Sarasu saves Shanthi from her aggressor. The next day, at a school function, Raju is invited as the chief guest and is shocked to see the schoolgirl Shanthi. Shanthi then gives a public speech and begs Raju to help the slum dwellers. Raju decides to become a good person, and he declares his love for her. Mahaganapathy and Ramasamy are keen to usurp the money given by Udayappa, and they threaten Mani to give them the 1800 crores. Mani and Ramu then kidnap Mahaganapathy to avert the blackmail. During the abduction, Maha Ganapathy discovers Udayappa's dead body. In the past, Udayappa was a small-time crook who forced the child Ramu to steal, and one day, he burned a hovel where 24 orphaned kids were sleeping, and all of the children died. Many years later, Udayappa became a rich businessman by wrong means. To take revenge on him, Ramu kidnapped his daughter Aishwarya and he blackmailed Udayappa to donate a part of his fortune to the slum dwellers. Udayappa first cooperated with them but then changed his mind. When the election starts, Ramu decides to become an independent candidate at the election, but since he is homeless and does not have a voter ID, he cannot contest at the election. Ramu then requests the slum dwellers to vote none of the above, and NOTA gets the majority of votes. Udayappa is, in reality, alive and is sequestered by Mani. Mahaganapathy escapes from the place and orders his henchmen to kill Udayappa. Mahaganapathy then kidnaps Shanthi, and she gets brutally raped by his henchmen. Shanthi then kills Mahaganapathy and is arrested. Seven years later, Shanthi is released from jail and saw her brother is the new Home Minister while her lover, Raju, asks for her hand in marriage.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Bharadwaj, with lyrics written by

Palani Bharathi Palani Bharathi or Pazhani Bharathi ( or ) is an Indian writer and lyricist who works in Tamil cinema. Early life Palani Bharathi was born in Karaikudi to Sami Palaniappan, a poet, and Kamala. He has a brother and four sisters. Palaniappan w ...

Reception

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' wrote that "Many characters criss cross the screen – most of them vamoose and suddenly re-emerge only to fade away again. The intention could be noble but the execution is pathetic". Pavithra Srinivasan of ''

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

'' rated the film 1 out of 5 and said, "It should have been en emotional roller-coaster but this flick is more akin to a road-roller".

References

External links

* {{Vinayan 2000s Indian films 2000s Tamil-language films 2009 films Films directed by Vinayan Films scored by Bharadwaj (composer) Films set in slums Tamil-language Indian films