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.[3] 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, though 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 so as not to upset 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. Pandi soon arrives at the hideout, and he and Kadhu try to kill the gangster, but they are unsuccessful. At this juncture, Mansoor arrives at the hideout; he and Killi stab each other to death. Pandi falsely takes credit for their deaths to impress Kadhu. Ultimately, Pandi, disillusioned with the thug lifestyle, becomes a police officer, as per his mother's wishes.
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.[4][5] The film was titled after a dialogue spoken by Vadivelu in Thalai Nagaram (2006).[6][7] 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.[4] 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.[8]
Casting
Lavanya Tripathi was cast as the lead actress opposite Gautham Karthik, when the project was under Menon's control.[9] 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.[10]Ashok Selvan stated that he was considered for the lead role before Sethupathi was cast.[11] 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.[12] Sethupathi's son Surya made his acting debut in the film, portraying the younger version of his father's character.[13]
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.[10]RJ Balaji joined the cast shortly after filming began.[14] 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.[15]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.[16]
Filming
Principal photography began on 3 December 2014,[17] with the first leg of the venture held in Pondicherry over a span of forty days.[18] Some scenes were shot at the Thirukameeswarar Temple in Villianur.[19] The initial schedule was completed in the first week of January 2015, and soon after, the team began filming the second schedule.[20] By mid-May 2015, major portions of the film had been completed. The final schedule started in Puducherry on 19 May 2015.[21] Principal photography wrapped up in June 2015.[22] Nayanthara dubbed herself for her character in the first time in Tamil.[23]
The soundtrack to Naanum Rowdy Dhaan is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, in his first collaboration with Vignesh. It features six tracks, five of which were penned by Vignesh himself, and the sixth one was written by Thamarai. Four of the songs featured Anirudh's voice. Other singers on the album include Neeti Mohan, Benny Dayal, Sid Sriram, and Sean Roldan. Instead of a promotional audio launch, Anirudh released the songs as individual singles.[24][25] The album received positive reviews from critics as well as listeners.[26]
Release
In September 2015, Lyca Productions announced that they had bought the distribution rights for Naanum Rowdy Dhaan.[27] The filmmakers initially announced that the film would be released on 2 October 2015.[28] However, it was later postponed to 21 October.[29]Naanum Rowdy Dhaan was published to audiences outside India by Herotalkies on 15 November 2015, through their online film streaming portal.[30]
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".[31]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".[32] 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".[33] 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".[34] 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".[35]
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.[41]
A scene where Nayanthara is seen buying beer from a liquor store went viral on social media before the film's release. The political party Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) opposed the scene and demanded that it be deleted, otherwise during its launch, they would protest the film and Nayanthara.[42] 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 a film, her effigy was publicly burned by Hindu Munnani in February 2015.[43]
Legacy
According to Janani K of India Today, Naanum Rowdy Dhaan was a breakthrough for Nayanthara.[44] Her character's line "Ongala podanum sir" (transl. I must kill you sir) inspired the title of a 2019 film,[45] and Sethupathi's line "Are You Okay Baby?" became the title of a 2023 film.[46] The film's title also inspired Nayanthara and Vignesh to establish a production company, Rowdy Pictures.[47] 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.[48]
