Naan Kadavul

Naan Kadavul
theatrical poster
Directed by	Bala
Produced by	K. S. Sreenivasan
Screenplay by	Bala Jeyamohan
Based on	Yezhaam Ulagam by Jayamohan
Starring	Arya Pooja Rajendran Krishnamoorthy
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Cinematography	Arthur A. Wilson
Editing by	Suresh Urs
Studio	Vasan Visual Ventures
Distributed by	Vasan Visual Ventures Pyramid Saimira
Release date(s)	6 February 2009
Running time	150 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil Hindi

Naan Kadavul (Tamil: நான் கடவுள்; English: I am God) is a 2009 Indian Tamil film co-written and directed by Bala, based on the Tamil novel Yezhaam Ulagam by Jayamohan who also penned the dialogues for the film. The film stars Arya and Pooja in the lead roles. The music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

The film, which had been in making for over three years, was finally released on 6 February 2009, received rave reviews and critical acclaim, winning two National Film Awards, including the Best Director Award for Bala, and three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. It is considered a moderate success at the box office.^[1][2]

Plot

For astrological reasons, a father leaves his son Rudran (Arya) in Kasi. 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. 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) a blind girl is forcefully separated from her troop 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 meets Hamsavalli, who tries her best 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 Hamsavalli to marry an ugly, deformed man 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, Hamsavalli refuses to marry the deformative,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 re-birth. The aghori then kills her and grants her moksha.In he final scene Rudran returns back to Kasi.

Cast

• Arya as Rudran
• Pooja as Hamsavalli
• Rajendran as Thandavan
• Krishnamoorthy as Murugan

Crew

Profession	Name
Direction/Story	Bala
Dialogue	Jeyamohan
Producer	K. S. Sreenivasan
Music	Ilaiyaraaja
Lyrics	Kavignar Vaali, Ilaiyaraaja, Bharath Aacharya
Cinematography	Arthur Wilson
Editing	Suresh Urs
Choreographer
Stunt Director	Super Subbarayan
Art Direction	Krishna Murthy
Cast	Lihtnes & Lakshmi

Soundtrack

This film features 7 songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The audio was released on 1st of 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.

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

Awards

2009 National Film Awards

• National Film Award for Best Direction - Bala
• National Film Award for Best Make-up Artist - U.K. Sasi

2009 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

• Best Female Character Artiste - Pooja Umashanker
• Best Villain - Rajendran
• Best Cinematographer - Arthur Wilson

2009 Vijay Awards

• Vijay Award for Best Director - Bala
• Vijay Award for Best Actress - Pooja
• Vijay Award for Best Villain - Rajendran
• Vijay Award for Best Make up - U.K. Sasi

2009 Filmfare Awards South

• 2009 - Filmfare Best Tamil Actress Award - Pooja Umashankar
• 2009 - Filmfare Best Tamil Director Award - Bala - Nominated
• 2009 - Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award - Arya - Nominated
• 2009 - Filmfare Best Tamil Film Award - Nominated
• 2009 - Filmfare Best Tamil Supporting Actor Award - Rajendran - Nominated
• 2009 - Filmfare Best Tamil Lyricist Award - Ilayaraja - Nominated

Box office

• The film grossed over $10 million at the box office in the first 6 weeks, reports the comparison web site Behindwoods.com. [1]

Trivia

• Previously actor Ajith Kumar was cast for the lead role 'Ruthran', but later the role was given to the Arya. For the lead female character of Hamsavalli, several actresses, including Bhavana and Karthika were considered and tested before Pooja was confirmed for the role.^[3]
• In an interview Pooja informed that she really begged in the streets with a white contact lens. This was insisted by the director for her to feel the real emotions in the character.

References

1. ^ http://entertainment.in.msn.com/movies/features/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=3488528&page=7
2. ^ http://movies.indiatimes.com/News-Gossip/Regional-/Tamil/Naan-Kadavul-A-big-hit/articleshow/4104813.cms
3. ^ http://in.movies.yahoo.com/news-detail/8848/The-latest-heroine-of-Naan-Kadavul-speaks.html

External links

• Naan Kadavul at the Internet Movie Database