Nayakan

A crime film set in Bombay. As a child Velu loses his father to police violence. He runs away, reaches Bombay and takes shelter in the quarter where Tamil migrants live. A smuggler raises him there. As a grown man he starts looking after the quarter's affairs. The police do as they please there; Velu stands against them and the people take him up. In time he becomes both the protector and the judge of the quarter. People bring their problems to him rather than to a court. The second line is the family. Velu marries, has children and wants to build another life for them. But what he does is known at home, and the children react differently as they grow. His relationship with his daughter is the hardest part of the narrative. What the narrative asks is this: where the state does not go, is the man who provides justice a criminal. The film does not answer and has the question asked directly in its last scene. Kamal Haasan plays Velu, and the part became one of his most remembered. Mani Ratnam directed. The music is by Ilaiyaraaja and the photography by P. C. Sreeram. The production counts as a classic in India and has appeared on international lists. A strong choice for anyone interested in crime sagas and the important productions of Indian cinema. For a viewer wanting something short, it is long and the narrative spreads over decades.