Nayak: The Real Hero (2001)

Pretty Good

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

What you call a film like NAYAK?It has a message, it has a good topic but it's handling is a mishmashIt sometimes is like a social drama and sometimes veers into a surreal modeIt's like a south film, not surprising directed by Shankar a south Indian directorThe film starts rather painfully with a bad joke by Johny and Razzak Khan and they are many of such incidentsThe turn of events like the riot is ruined by melodramatic and exxegarrated picturisationThe interview too is too contrived to take seriously, also Anil made an interviewer from a cameraman is also sillyBut the things Anil does to change the state of affairs is well handled though it's too contrived to believe that it can be done in 1 day Also the film has too many stupid scenes like Anil getting into disguises and fighting with a goon over a truck Paresh's outburst forcing Anil to join politics again is well handled and also the finale Direction by Shankar is good in parts Music is okayAnil Kapoor looks his best here and he dons the role perfectly his formal clothes, his natural acting and his common man type look suits the role Rani annoys as his girlfriend doing all the nonsense she mostly does in most films Amongst rest Pooja Bhatra is okay, Johny Lever hams it up as usual and irritates Amrish Puri is good in his part though a bit too much Saurabh Shukla is funny Paresh is a highlight, he is a natural hope to watch him in such roles now. His outburst is perfect Amongst rest Shivaji Satham is okay Vikram Gokhale has done dubbing for Anil's father while Neena Kulkarni is as usual

Nayak is a movie about India's current condition and a way out. Anil Kapoor is superb as the reporter who through his good heart and job gets dragged into politics. In one day he is able to clean Maharashtra through his hard work, dedication, and determination. Yet Baldev Chauhan played by the always excellent Amrish Puri, is not willing to let this go, especially as Rao's work leads to a vote of no confidence. In attacking Rao as well as the popular outpouring of support for Rao as CM Rao is forced to take the position of CM. The additional foil is a love story. Rao is in love with Manjari (played by Rani Mukherji) a village belle whose father does not want her to marry a politician. The movie is an excellent commentary on politics and the power of one man. The powerful idealism is wonderful, yet for some it detracts from the movie. The love story is touching as well. Rani Mukherjee, Paresh Rawal, and Anil Kapoor excell in their roles and add a great deal of emotion.

What impressed me most about the movie is the tightness of the script. Events unfold one after the other. Neither too fast, nor too slow. Keeps you gripped. The events are coherent. Something you rarely see in Indian movies is people referring to events that have happened in the beginning of the movie. More often than not, the scripts are improvised on the sets and to maintain continuity the dialogues are abstract in nature so that the different parts gel in. To make a movie with cross references to subtle events needs you to have a script very firmly in place.Second good thing about the movie was the experimentation with Visuals. Though at some points I felt that they have just indulged into special effects without the need for it (they should use effects only where needed), but honestly I was very impressed by the efforts taken to meet quality standards.What has put off many people about the movie is the songs and dance and the unrealistic fights and some silly extremisms. Well the songs really don't have much bearing on the movie. And they have experimented with a very rustic style of entertainment which won't get wasted on everyone. As far as the fights and 'silly extremisms' go, I feel they tried to retain the HERO flavour which would really appeal to a large aspect of the masses.The movie has very innovative ideas and also dares to be different - thougt most of that part should be attributed to its South Indian Counterpart.I would say please go and see the movie. Its a nice experience. Appreciate it for its professionalism and technical expertise. Appreciate it for amazing dialogues and great performances by Paresh Rawal and Anil Kapoor both. It is a thought provoking film - something I feel the movie really set out to be. So its purpose is served.

This is a remake of Shankar's own south film Madhalvan in Hindi. The south Whizz kid director has made an awesome spectacle of a film with Nayak.It is a definite must see. Rahman's music is superb, 'shaka laka baby!' to say the least. This film contains superior special effects and CGI for it's time, unlike others who have no sense of using CGI effectively and non garishly, Shankar has created beautiful sequences for the songs. The cinematography is breathtaking, a joy to the eye. The South influence is very imminent, that is what makes this film so good along with a bravura performance from Anil Kapoor and the sensuous Rani Mukerjee although underused only adds to the films beauty.