Nayak

About the film

Nayak: The Real Hero ( transl. Hero) is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language political thriller film co-written and directed by Shankar (in his Bollywood debut) and produced by A. M. Rathnam under the Sri Surya Movies banner. The film stars Anil Kapoor, with Rani Mukerji, Amrish Puri, Paresh Rawal, and Johnny Lever playing supporting roles. A remake of Shankar's 1999 Tamil-language film Mudhalvan, it focuses on Shivaji Rao (Kapoor), a television cameraman and, later, television presenter, who accidentally hears and records a conversation between the police and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Balraj Chauhan. While interviewing Chauhan about the issues, Shivaji is challenged to take over the chief minister's job for a day.

Nayak was announced in June 2000 and marked the first Hindi-language directorial venture of Shankar. The soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics that were written by Anand Bakshi. Filming was done by K. V. Anand, taking place in more than 100 locations across India.

Plot

Shivaji Rao is an ambitious television cameraman, working for QTV along with his friend Topi in Mumbai, Maharashtra. While on his job, he is assigned to record riots triggered by a fight between college students and a bus driver and accidentally records a conversation in which Chief Minister Balraj Chauhan takes an indifferent stand, so as not to lose his voter base. In the riots, Shivaji saves the life of one of the college students there, and it is recorded by Topi. Because of his actions, Shivaji is promoted to senior television presenter.

Meanwhile, due to police inaction, there is loss of life and damage to property. Explaining his actions, Chauhan later agrees to do a live interview with Shivaji, during which Shivaji raises these issues and broadcasts the conversation he has recorded. In response to Shivaji's allegations about the mismanagement by his government, Chauhan redirects the question by saying that his job is not easy. He challenges Shivaji to be the Chief Minister for a day to experience those problems himself. Shivaji reluctantly accepts the challenge.

An ordinance is passed in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and Shivaji takes over as CM. Assisted by Bansal, Shivaji handles issues that affect the populace every day. He manages affordable housing and employment for the needy, and he suspends inefficient and corrupt government officials. As the last act of the day, Shivaji has Chauhan arrested, as the latter is the root cause of all the corruption. Later, Chauhan posts bail after assuming back as CM and leaves jail, then passes an ordinance to nullify all orders passed by Shivaji. Insulted by Shivaji's success as well, Chauhan sends assassins after him, but they only manage to destroy his house.

Production

Nayak: The Real Hero serves as a remake of S. Shankar's 1999 Tamil-language film Mudhalvan, and was the director's first venture in Bollywood. The debut, announced in June 2000, was produced by A. M. Rathnam under the banner of Sri Surya Movies (his second Hindi film after that of Tejasvini, released in 1994), and addressed the issue of corruption in India. According to Shankar, he was motivated to remake Mudhalvan in Hindi because of its subject and did several changes to the original story. In an interview with Filmfare in August 2001, he said that he believed that the topic is well known among Indian people. Anurag Kashyap wrote the dialogue.

The role of Shivaji was originally going to be played by Aamir Khan, but Shankar did not cast him, explaining, "... the two of us faced a huge communication gap. His views about [Mudhalvan] didn't match mine." The next actor suggested was Shah Rukh Khan. However, he did not want to play the role after portraying a television presenter in his home production, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000). Shankar's final choice was Anil Kapoor, although he was initially reluctant to choose him for the part but changed his mind after finding him more suitable than the previous actors, noting his discipline. When asked by the Deccan Herald about his character as well as his experience during the production of the film, Kapoor said that it was one of his career's finest roles and called it an honour to work with Shankar. To prepare for the role, Kapoor underwent physical training for six or seven months, and watched many talk shows hosted by Larry King, Prannoy Roy, Rajat Sharma, and Karan Thapar—later adopting their way of speaking. Nayak's character name was based on Rajinikanth's real life name—Shivaji Rao Gaekwad—because Shankar made the script for Mudhalvan with Rajinikanth in his mind. Kapoor also directed a scene featuring himself and Johnny Lever.

Shankar chose Rani Mukerji to fulfill the part of Manjari, a village girl who becomes the love interest of Kapoor's character. He cast Mukerji over Manisha Koirala, who played the role in the original version, as he thought that Mukerji has the bubbly image he needed for the character. Playing the type of role for the first time, the actress admitted that she saw resemblances between Manjari and herself, noting their vibrant along with uninhibited character, and described her collaboration with Kapoor as a "growing-up experience". Talking to a journalist from Rediff.com, Mukerji revealed that she immediately agreed to star in the film after hearing the story from Kapoor, which she felt was "mindblowing". Shankar wanted her to portray the role in her own way, not copying what Koirala had done before. Ahmed Khan and Sushmita Sen made special appearances in the film. Boys Rajan, who shot for a deleted scene in Mudhalvan, also acted in Nayak: The Real Hero, with Shankar assuring him that his scene will not be cut.

Key details