Naanum Rowdydhaan

''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language romantic action comedy film written and directed by Vignesh Shivan, produced by Dhanush under his Wunderbar Films. The film stars Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara, with Parthiban, Radhika Sarathkumar, RJ Balaji, and Anandaraj in supporting roles. It follows a police inspector's son who becomes a gangster. He falls in love with a woman seeking revenge against another gangster and joins her cause.

The film was announced in November 2013, with Gautham Vasudev Menon producing and Gautham Karthik and Lavanya Tripathi starring. However, the project was dropped, and by August 2014, Dhanush had taken over, with the lead pair recast. Principal photography commenced in December 2014 and ended in June 2015. The music was composed by Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography was handled by George C. Williams, and editing by A. Sreekar Prasad.

''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' was released worldwide on 21 October 2015 and distributed by Lyca Productions. It received positive reviews and performed well at the box office. For her performance, Nayanthara won the Filmfare and SIIMA Awards for Best Actress in the Tamil branch.

Plot

Pondicherry "Pandi" Pandiyan is the son of Puducherry police inspector P. Meena Kumari. Despite being an inspector's son, he grows up being friendly with criminals and upon reaching adulthood, unbeknownst to his mother, he becomes a thug, albeit an incompetent one. Pandi and his friends come across a deaf woman, Kadhambari ("Kadhu"), and Pandi immediately falls in love with her. Kadhu is the daughter of an honest police officer, Ravikumar.

Fifteen years before, then-sub-inspector Ravikumar was in pursuit of Killivallavan, a dreaded gangster. Killi had been arrested in public by Ravi, and in retaliation, he slapped Ravi when the officer was shopping with Kadhu. Later, Ravi arrested almost all of Killi's gang members. In revenge, Killi sent a bomb disguised as a gift to Ravi's house, which killed Ravi's wife and caused Kadhu to lose her hearing.

Later on, Ravi and his daughter moved to another part of the country and did not return until his last year of service. Kadhu seeks Pandi's help to find her father, who has not spoken to her for the past two days. Pandi soon learns that Ravikumar was killed by Killi the same night he met Kadhu, but hides the fact from her. A week later, Kadhu learns about her father's death and is determined to avenge him by going after Killi.

Pandi agrees to help her, with the promise that he will restrain Killi while she stabs him. Pandi and his gang, along with Kadhu, hatch a plan to murder Killi while he is travelling. However, this is foiled as their plan gets mixed up with that of Mansoor, Killi's political rival, who wants to contest an upcoming election in place of Killi's mistress, Baby. Pandi's gang is enraged and despite Pandi's reassurances, they decide not to help Kadhu further.

Kadhu decides to go ahead on her own, as she does not want Pandi and his friends to split up over her. She reaches Killi's hideout, but on attempting to kill him, he knocks her out. Her phone rings, and Killi answers it. An unaware Pandi details their plan to kill him. Killi gives him his location and asks his men to look into Pandi. Pandi soon arrives at the hideout and tries to plead for Kadhu's life, but Killi beats him up and puts in the same room as Kadhu. After she wakes up, Pandi fights Killi and manages to escape, together with Kadhu.

Mansoor and his men arrive and begin killing everyone. While hiding, Pandi receives a call from Baba, who tells him that Killi's men snatched his mother. Their group went to look for her just as they went searching for Kadhu's father. An enraged Pandi decides to kill Killi. He finds him hiding next door, and Killi grabs him as they had planned, but Kadhu is unable to stab him. At this juncture, Mansoor finds Killi, and they end up stabbing each other to death. Pandi falsely takes credit for their deaths to impress Kadhu.

Pandi, who has now become disillusioned with the thug lifestyle, grieves the loss of his mother. He sees her and thinks she is visiting him in his dream, but he soon realises she is alive. He tells her about Baba's phone call, and she replies that she had just gone to check his new job at the head office. Pandi ultimately becomes a police officer, per his mother's wishes.

Cast

Production

Development

In November 2013, ''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' was officially announced, to be directed by Vignesh Shivan and produced by Gautham Vasudev Menon, with Gautham Karthik as the lead actor and Anirudh Ravichander as composer. The film was titled after a dialogue spoken by Vadivelu in '' Thalai Nagaram'' (2006). Vignesh revealed that the film would be based on a 19-year-old youngster caught in the midst of a gang setting and noted he hoped to shoot in Mumbai, Chennai, and Puducherry. However, the project failed to take off. On 29 August 2014, coinciding with Ganesh Chaturthi, Dhanush announced via Twitter that he would be producing the film under his Wunderbar Films banner and also posted details about the cast and crew and the title design. While George C. Williams was the cinematographer, Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara were announced as the new lead pair.

Casting

Lavanya Tripathi was cast as the lead actress opposite Gautham Karthik, when the project was under Menon's control. Vignesh has stated that Anirudh was his first choice for the lead role, but he decided against casting him to avoid distracting him from music, his "greatest passion". He also said Sethupathi and Nayanthara accepted the project without hearing the complete script. Ashok Selvan stated that he was considered for the lead role before Sethupathi was cast. Sethupathi stated that he had put on weight for some of his recent roles, so he worked hard for two months to shed those pounds. He worked out and went on an extensive diet regime as well —even forgoing food at times. Sethupathi's son Surya made his acting debut in the film, portraying the younger version of his father's character.

Vignesh revealed the makers were apprehensive about approaching R. Parthiban to portray the antagonist, as the actor was not known to readily accept any role, but he immediately accepted the offer and added his own ideas to the character. RJ Balaji joined the cast shortly after filming began. He has stated that he was not initially interested in joining but accepted due to his friendship with Sethupathi and because Nayanthara was in the cast. Anandaraj joined the film's roster while filming was taking place in Puducherry and said his character was inspired by the one played by Govinda in the 2014 Hindi film '' Kill Dil''.

Filming

Principal photography began on 3 December 2014, with the first leg of the venture held in Pondicherry over a span of forty days. Some scenes were shot at the Thirukameeswarar Temple in Villianur. The initial schedule was completed in the first week of January 2015, and soon after, the team began filming the second schedule. By mid-May 2015, major portions of the film had been completed. The final schedule started in Puducherry on 19 May 2015. Principal photography wrapped up in June 2015. Nayanthara dubbed herself for her character in the first time in Tamil.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to ''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' is composed by Anirudh Ravichander. It features six tracks, five of which were penned by Vignesh himself, and the sixth one was written by Thamarai. Instead of having an audio launch, the songs were released as singles.

Release

In September 2015, Lyca Productions announced that they had bought the distribution rights for ''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan''. The filmmakers initially announced that the film would be released on 2 October 2015. However, it was later postponed to 21 October. ''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' was published to audiences outside India by Herotalkies on 15 November 2015, through their online film streaming portal.

Critical reception

Writing for ''The Times of India'', M. Suganth gave the film four out of five stars and wrote, "The plot might come across as a serious revenge drama, but Vignesh Shivan displays a lightness of touch throughout that makes the film so much fun. And, he keeps things breezy even when situations get serious". ''Sify'' wrote, "Vignesh Sivan's Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (NRD) is a feel-good laugh riot, a perfect movie to hang out with friends. You are guaranteed loads of fun and sure to come out with a big smile on your face". S. Saraswathi of Rediff.com gave it 3.5 out of 5 and stated, "Simple, sweet and uncomplicated, ''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' is a refreshing romantic comedy that deserves a watch". Sudhir Srinivasan of ''The Hindu'' said, "Almost all the jokes, both subtle and loud, work. And they're everywhere, and often admirably, without heed to political correctness". Mike McCahill of ''The Guardian'' gave it 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Despite some rough edges and missed opportunities, Vignesh Shivan delivers a well-written, likably played film where every element feels integrated and thought through".

Accolades

Controversies

Shortly after Lyca Productions announced that they had acquired the film's distribution rights, members of the political party Ilaya Thalaimurai Katchi condemned Wunderbar Films for selling the rights to them. Iniyan John of the party noted Lyca founder Subaskaran Allirajah's links to Sri Lankan politician Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was responsible for the deaths of "hundreds of thousands of Tamils" during the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. The same production house attracted protests when they produced their first Tamil film, ''Kaththi'' (2014), for the same reasons, and were forced to remove their name from promotional material. John noted the production house contradicted the Tamil Nadu Directors Association's promise that they would not engage in film production or distribution in Tamil Nadu.

In early 2015, a video clip where Nayanthara is seen buying beer went viral on social media before the film's release. The political party Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) opposed the scene and demanded it be deleted, otherwise during the film's release, they would protest against the film and Nayanthara. In Chennai, HMK put up signs showing portraits of Nayanthara draped with a beer-bottle garland. After Nayanthara released a statement saying it was just a scene in the film, her effigy was publicly burned by members of another political party, the Hindu Munnani.

Legacy

According to Janani K of ''India Today'', ''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' was a breakthrough for Nayanthara. The actress later went on to star in '' Kolamaavu Kokila'' (2018), described by its producers Lyca as a dark comedy "on the lines of" the earlier film. Her character's line "Ongala podanum sir" () inspired the title of a 2019 film, and Sethupathi's line "Are You Okay Baby?" became the title of a 2023 film. The film's title also inspired Nayanthara and Vignesh to establish a production company, Rowdy Pictures. In 2024, Nayanthara considered ''Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'' the "most special and important film" in her career and was upset that Dhanush did not allow her to include clips from it in the documentary '' Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale'', about her life and career. Udhayabanu, who played a character named "Rahul Thatha", became popularly known by that name in the film industry.

References

External links

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{{Wunderbar Films

2010s comedy thriller films
2010s gangster films
2010s Indian films
2010s romantic action films
2010s Tamil-language films
2015 action comedy films
2015 black comedy films
2015 controversies
2015 crime comedy films
2015 films
2015 romantic comedy films
Fictional portrayals of police departments in India
Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police
Films about elections
Films directed by Vignesh Shivan
Films scored by Anirudh Ravichander
Films set in Puducherry
Films set in Tamil Nadu
Films shot in Puducherry
Indian action comedy films
Indian black comedy films
Indian comedy thriller films
Indian crime comedy films
Indian films about revenge
Indian gangster films
Indian romantic action films
Indian romantic comedy films
Obscenity controversies in film
Political controversies in film
Political controversies in India
Romantic crime films
Tamil-language action comedy films
Tamil-language black comedy films
Tamil-language Indian films
Tamil-language romantic comedy films