Naan (English: Me) is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film written and directed by Jeeva Shankar in his directorial debut. Composer Vijay Antony plays the lead role of a psychopathic killer; he also produced the film and worked as the music director. Siddharth Venugopal and Rupa Manjari appeared in supporting roles. The filming of Naan began in October 2011,[1] and the film was released on 15 August 2012. The movie was remade in Bengali in 2015 as Amanush 2 and in Kannada in 2016 as Asthitva. The film was followed by a sequel titled Salim, an action thriller that released in 2014. The plot of the film is loosely based on 1999 American film The Talented Mr. Ripley.[2]
| Naan | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Jeeva Shankar |
| Written by | Neelan K. Sekar (Dialogue) Jeeva Shankar (Additional Dialogue) |
| Screenplay by | Jeeva Shankar |
| Story by | Jeeva Shankar |
| Produced by | Fathima Vijay Antony |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jeeva Shankar |
| Edited by | Sathish Suriya |
| Music by | Vijay Antony |
Production company | Vijay Antony Film Corporation |
| Distributed by | Sri Devar Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 141 minutes |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
editKarthik is a brilliant student but already shows signs of criminal behavior in childhood, like forging his friend's parent's signature on a report card. Sent home from school early for this misdeed, Karthik is shocked to discover his mother in bed with a neighbor. His mother begs him not to tell his father, but he does so, and his father commits suicide. Karthik's mother continues her illicit relationship. One day, Karthik kills his mother and her lover by setting the house on fire. He is sent to a juvenile home where he grows up. On his release, the warden gives him the address of another of his uncles and asks him to concentrate on his studies.
Karthik's aunt is not interested in taking him in, so he goes to Chennai to start a new life. As fate would have it, the bus meets with an accident, and his fellow passenger, Mohammed Salim, is killed. Karthik steals Salim's documents, adopts his identity, and enrolls in a government medical college in MBBS. He befriends a rich classmate named Ashok, his girlfriend Rupa, and their friend Suresh. Ashok allows Salim to stay in his house rent-free. Later, Salim and Ashok encounter the same warden from the former's juvenile home, who seems to recognize Karthik. However, since Karthik is now impersonating Salim, he picks up an argument with the warden and swears that he is not the person he thinks he is. Nevertheless, Ashok becomes suspicious of his new friend.
One day Ashok and Suresh go to a farmhouse without Rupa. Suresh suggests that they take some other girls along. Salim lets Rupa know of this plan due to her sincere and true love for Ashok. Rupa starts to suspect that Ashok is cheating on her, while Ashok worries that Salim betrayed him by complaining about him to Rupa. Ashok slaps Salim angrily and tells him to move out. Katrhik apologizes to him and agrees to look for another lodging.
While Karthik takes a bath, Ashok opens his briefcase. He finds a photo of Karthik's biological father and realizes that it was a different man that Karthik had introduced as his actual father earlier. Suddenly, Karthik enters the room and asks Ashok to give back the photo. Ashok refuses, removes Karthik's's towel, and confirms that he is not a Muslim, as he is not circumcised. Salim gets angry and pushes Ashok; Ashok hits his head on a table and dies. At first, Karthik is horrified by what he has done, but he then covers up the murder by burying Ashok's body in a graveyard on the outskirts so intelligently that no one ever finds out that Ashok is dead. When a family friend of Ashok's, who has not seen Ashok since he was a child, plans to meet him, Karthik successfully impersonates Ashok, fooling even Ashok's parents and Rupa.
Suresh, however, discovers Karthik's deception, so Karthik kills him and buries him in the same graveyard. The following day, the police come to Ashok's house and reveal that they have found Suresh's corpse. They interrogate several people in the city, including Karthik, but he fools them into concluding that Ashok killed Suresh and fled; meanwhile, they consider Karthik (now back to impersonating Salim) an innocent and a hard-working student. Karthik continues to live as Salim after tricking Salim's father into giving him his son's inheritance. The film ends with the tagline "To Be Continued".
Cast
edit- Vijay Antony as Karthik/ Mohammed Salim
- Siddharth Venugopal as Ashok Ravindran
- Rupa Manjari as Roopa.
- Anuya Bhagvath as Priya
- Vijay Victor as Suresh
- Vibha Natarajan as Uma
- Charmila as Karthik's mother
- Ratchasan Saravanan as the original Mohammed Salim
- Pramod as Inspector Duraipandiyan
- Krishnamoorthy
- Shyam as Ashok's enemy
- Saivam Ravi as Karthik's uncle
- Neelan K. Sekar as Salim's mansion mate
Production
editThe film was initially launched in 2008, with Siddharth Venugopal and Rukmini Vijayakumar playing the lead roles, however, due to the failure of his previous film Ananda Thandavam, the producer Oscar Ravichandran called off the project.[3] The film restarted with Vijay Antony's intervention in October 2011 who also took the lead role from Siddharth.
Soundtrack
edit| Naan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album to Naan by | ||||
| Released | 4 June 2012 (Single) 30 July 2012 (Album) | |||
| Recorded | 2012 | |||
| Genre | Film soundtrack | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Gemini Audio T-Series | |||
| Producer | Vijay Antony | |||
| Vijay Antony chronology | ||||
| ||||
The soundtrack has six tracks, composed by Vijay Antony himself. Following Yuvan Shankar Raja, who created single tracks in Vaanam and Mankatha, Vijay Antony too released a single track "Makkayala Makkayala" in June 2012. All the songs in the album are composed by Vijay Antony.[4]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Makkayala Makkayala" | Priyan | Krishan Maheson, Mark Thomas, Shakthisree Gopalan | 4:52 |
| 2. | "Thapellam Thape Illai" | Asmin | Adhi, Santhosh Hariharan | 4:27 |
| 3. | "Ulaginil Miga Uyaram" | Annamalai | Vijay Antony | 4:49 |
| 4. | "Dinnam Dinnam" | Annamalai | Deepak | 4:35 |
| 5. | "No One Is Perfect (Theme)" | Instrumental | 2:56 | |
| 6. | "Thappelam Thappe Illai (Version 2)" | Asmin | Vijay Antony | 2:36 |
| Total length: | 24:25 | |||
Release
editCritical reception
editMalathi Rangarajan of The Hindu praised as "Well done!" and said: "A plethora of pluses make Naan watch-worthy. Vijay Antony’s acumen comes to the fore in his choice of a subject that’s strong and a character that’s stronger".[5] N. Venkateswaran of The Times of India gave Naan 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing that "but for some minor blips, the writing (and therefore the movie too) is pretty gripping throughout, and keeps the audience on the edge of the seats", calling it "[T]he perfect thriller to spice up the weekend".[6] IBNLive wrotet that "'Naan' is racy and appealing" and also adding that "it is a racy crime thriller that is quite an appealing effort from Jeeva Shankar and Vijay Antony."[7] The Behindwoods Review Board gave the film 2.5 out of 5, calling it a "suspense thriller that works for most parts."[8] Deccan Chronicle stated that "Vijay Antony changes beat".[9] Sify rated it average, calling it a "decent psychological thriller."[10]
Upon release, it was noted that the film had been inspired by the 1999 American film The Talented Mr. Ripley.[11][12]
Other languages
editIt was remade in Bengali as Amanush 2 which released in April 2015.[13] Kannada Remake released in 2016 as Asthitva.
Awards
edit| Ceremony | Category | Winner | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Music Director | Vijay Antony | Nominated |
| Best Debutant Producer | Nominated | ||
| Best Male Debutant | Nominated |
Legacy
editA sequel to the movie was released in August 2014 called Salim. In March 2014, it was reported that the film would be remade in Hindi with Prashanth in the lead role. Despite a production delay, Thiagarajan confirmed during an interview that the film would be made in February 2017.[14][15]
References
edit- ^ "Vijay Antony's onscreen debut with 'Naan'". Southdreamz.com. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Cinema Plus / Cinema : New kid on the block". The Hindu. 10 April 2009. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ S. R. Ashok Kumar (4 August 2012). "Arts / Cinema : Audio Beat: Naan". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (18 August 2012). "Naan: I for intelligence". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- ^ Venkateswaran, M. (15 August 2012). "Naan movie review: Wallpaper, Story, Trailer at Times of India". The Times Of India. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ "Tamil Review: 'Naan' is racy and appealing". IBNLive. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ^ "Naan Review - Naan Movie Review". Behindwoods.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ "Naan review: Vijay Antony changes beat". Deccan Chronicle. 19 August 2012. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ^ "Movie Review:Naan". Sify. 17 August 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ Mannath, Malini (19 August 2012). "Naan (Tamil)". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ "PLAGIARISM POLICING IS GOING OUT OF HAND". Times of India. 25 May 2016. Archived from the original on 25 May 2016.
- ^ "Arya and Jiiva in Jeeva Shankar's next?". The Times of India. July 2017.
- ^ "A mastermind at work". The Hindu. 11 February 2017. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2017 – via www.thehindu.com.
- ^ "Welcome cinemalead.com - Hostmonster.com". www.cinemalead.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2017.