NGK (film)


NGK is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language political action film written and directed by Selvaraghavan. Suriya, Sai Pallavi, and Rakul Preet Singh play the lead roles while Devaraj, Ponvannan, Nizhalgal Ravi, and Rajkumar play pivotal roles. Yuvan Shankar Raja composed the music and Sivakumar Vijayan was the cinematographer. The film was produced by S. R. Prakashbabu and S. R. Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures. Pre-production and principal photography commenced in January 2018. The film was released on 31 May 2019 receiving polarized reviews although Suriya's performance was praised.

Plot

Nandha Gopalan Kumaran is a social worker and good doer, specialised in organic farming. He has a huge support from the youngsters in his village who were inspired by him quitting his high-profile job for serving his country. He lives with his mother Viji; father Ramanan, a former military officer; and a possessive wife, Geetha Kumari, who is a major strength for him.
Kumaran happens to meet an old friend, Raja, the right hand man of the area MLA, while trying to solve the problem of a few youngsters. He gets a big shock upon finding that what he tried for a long time and failed was done by his friend through the area councillor in a single phone call. Meanwhile, a few shopkeepers, middlemen, and others who alarmed by Kumaran's organic farming give him an ultimatum and later attack the people and burn their farms using chemicals when he refuses to give up. In order to make things good, Aruna Giri, a native, asks Kumaran to meet the MLA, Pandiyan, who happens to be a ruthless narcissist. He agrees to help if Kumaran joins his political party, KMK, along with 500 others from his villages, to which he is forced to comply. Pandiyan ill-treats Kumaran and asks him to clean his toilet, buy biriyani, and even bring a sex worker. Though furious at first, he decides to use the situation to gain Pandiyan's trust and in the process do good for his village. He discovers that Raja is suffering from terminal cancer and will not live long.
Kumaran happens to meet Vanathi Thiagarajan, who was appointed by the party with a monthly income of 1.2 crore to help them win the upcoming elections. Impressed by Kumaran, she seeks his opinion soon starting an affair with him, much to his wife's suspicion. Kumaran asks Vanathi to select Kesavamoorthy, the Home Minister, as their target. Despite threats from Killivazhavan "Killi", the Chief Minister, he manages to expose the ill deeds of the Kesavamoorthy and arrange a scripted revolt for their party's benefit. However, Raja makes Kumaran kill him so as to intensify the people's emotions for their party and make the latter an important figure. Kumaran is arrested and later admitted in the hospital. Killi is shocked to find that Kumaran has turned the tides against him and decides to kill him. Kumaran is soon confronted by goons in doctors' disguise, whom he single handedly defeats with great difficulty. The next day, he puts up a show in the front of his villagers gaining their trust. Pichai Muthu "Pichai", the leader of KMK, is alarmed by the popularity of Kumaran and also finds that Vanathi is helping him. He decides to nominate Kumaran as the candidate for the upcoming elections to the legislative assembly.
As his character became negative after ill- treated by Pandiyan, Kumaran makes a plot to kill his own family to become the chief minister. the night when he is to address his villagers, as per his plan goons arranged by him attacked them, and his wife is stabbed. but they couldn't kill her because Vanathi comes to her rescue. but goons successfully kills his parents according to his plan. An angry Kumaran addresses the gathering with pretending to be with full vigour, causing them to attack and kill Pichai and his accomplices while a bomb already set by Kumaran inside an audio system of the caravan blast. Vanathi decides to leave their relationship to Kumaran. Kumaran forms a new party, Makkal Munnetra Kazhakam, and wins the upcoming elections forming a coalition government. He reunites with his wife. Kumaran becomes the new chief minister and while in a channel interview mentions about strengthening his hold in the state.

Cast

Following the films Nenjam Marapathillai and Mannavan Vanthanadi, it was announced on 17 November 2016 that director Selvaraghavan would direct actor Suriya's 36th film, to be produced by S. R. Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures, and the film is expected to enter production in January 2018 and was touted to be a Diwali 2018 release. However, owing to shooting delays due to sickness of the director, the film's release was postponed to 31 May 2019.
Principal photography of the film commenced on 22 January 2018 with actress Sai Pallavi playing the female lead with Neeraja Kona as the costume designer for the film. and later Selva announced he is collaborating with Yuvan Shankar Raja for music, and Sivakumar Vijayan for cinematography, while actress Rakul Preet Singh will reportedly play the second female lead. Jagapathi Babu was roped in to play the villain, but was subsequently replaced with Devaraj.

Soundtrack

The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Shreya Ghoshal, Sid Sriram, and Ranjith are part of the album.

Release

NGK is the first Tamil movie to release in South Korea. The movie's satellite rights have been sold to Star Vijay and digital streaming rights have been secured by Amazon Prime Video. Telugu digital streaming rights have been secured by Aha Video IN.

Marketing

The first look of the film and title NGK, which is short for Nandha Gopalan Kumaran, the name of Suriya's character in the film, were unveiled on 5 March 2018.
The teaser was released on 14 February 2019 in Tamil and Telugu. A new poster was released on director Selvaraghavan’s birthday and the film's trailer and audio was released on 29 April 2019. The film has a release date of 31 May 2019.

Critical reception

The critical reception was polarized.
Wetalkiess stated that "NGK fails to create Selvaraghavan's magic but Suriya has given one of his best performances". M Suganth of Times of India gave 2 out 5 stars stating, "NGK is a letdown and doesn't fulfill any of the promises it has on paper".
Srinivasa Ramanujam of The Hindu called the movie an oddly put together mash up of a movie. He concluded by stating, "NGK is Suriya trying to deliver a Selvaraghavan-ish performance when the director himself is trying to deliver a Shankar/Murugadoss-ish film. The results aren't extremely pleasing."
S. Subakeerthana of Indian Express rated the film 2.5/5 and stated "Works to some extent, elevated by Suriya's performance... NGK, on the whole isn't satisfying. Simply put, it is neither a Selvaraghavan nor a Suriya film."
On a positive note, Shubham Bahukhandi of DekhNews.com gave a positive review stating that,
"Tamil movie NGK is a good movie and we think that the makers are going to make more than enough bucks out of it. You all can watch NGK with your friends and family" and giving the film, a rating of 3.5/5.
Behndwoods rated 2.25/5 and stated that "NGK becomes a usual political drama but is watchable for Suriya's performance."
Firstpost rated 2.5/5 and stated that "NGK ends up becoming a compromise film which is neither massy nor classy."
News18 rated 1.5/5 and stated that "We have seen this ever so often on screen."

Reappraisal

Just like the director's previous films like "Pudhupettai" and "Aayirathil Oruvan", initially the film received mixed to positive reaction from both critics as well as audiences due to the complexity of the film. But due to social media, the film got more of a positive response especially from the audiences.
The website "Behindwoods.com" even stated the film as one of the best movies by Selvaraghavan. Websites like "SamayamTamil.com" and "sify.com" has decoded the film for the movie-goers to understand the hints present in the film.