Naadodigal


Naadodigal is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani and produced by S. Michael Rayappan under banner of Global Infotainment. The film stars Sasikumar along with Chennai 600028 fame Vijay Vasanth and Kalloori fame Bharani in lead roles, with newcomers Ananya, Abhinaya and Malaysia - based Shanthini Deva enacting the lead female roles and Ganja Karuppu playing a pivotal role, providing comical relief.
The plot focuses on a trio who attempt to unite their friend with his lover against the wishes of all families involved, and at heavy cost to themselves, only to realize that the lovers separate after a short while.
Cinematography was handled by S. R. Kathir, songs composed and score by Sundar C Babu, editing done by A. L. Ramesh, stunt co originated by Dhilip Subbarayan, dance choreography Dinesh, produced designed by R. K. Vijay Murugan and lyrics written by Vaali, Na. Muthukumar, Kabilan and Yugabharathi.
The film released in June 2009, garnering highly positive reviews. The film was a sleeper hit. The film spawned a namesake sequel, Nadodigal 2, which released in 2020.

Plot

The film revolves around Karunakaran, Paandi, and Chandran. The trio eat, sleep, and party together in Rajapalayam. They also have their individual ambitions in life. Karunakaran is in love with the daughter of a distant relative, Nallammal. He is madly pursuing a government job because Nallamal's father will agree to the marriage only if he obtains one. Paandi is desperate to go abroad and get rich, while Chandran, who is working as a software teacher, is committed to start a computer center and is in love with Pavithra, Karunakaran's sister. Chandran's father is a widowed army veteran and is all decent to help his son's love. All goes well until Saravanan, Karunakaran's childhood friend from Kaniyakumari, arrives in town. The son of a former MP and a prominent politician, he is in love with Prabha, the daughter of a rich bigwig Pazhanivelraman in Namakkal. Shocked by Saravanan's suicide attempt due to love failure, the trio promise to help him out and unite the two lovers. They set out to Namakkal where they enlist the help of their friend Maariyappan.
The trio manage to help the couple get married by abducting the girl while she is visiting a temple with her family. In ensuing fracas between the two families, Karunakaran gets scarred near one of his eyes; Paandi is hit on the ear by a pipe, thereby becoming deaf; and Chandran loses his leg due to an injury by falling under a passing truck. Palanivelraman, on realizing who aided his ward escape, sends his goons to attack Karunakaran's family. It ends with Karunakaran's grandmother being accidentally killed. During the funeral, the family members have a fight, resulting in Karunakaran's fiancé Nallammal being coaxed by her father to give up on him.
The three friends end up being put in jail and getting entangled in a kidnapping case. However, they are released as time goes by. After slowly experiencing hell upon return to their native town, they begin working alongside a local wedding food caterer and eventually begin to adjust to their new lifestyle. One day, Karunakaran's fiancé's wedding is announced, and they are told to serve food there. Karunakaran is shattered, and Pandi goes to the fiancé's house and wreaks havoc with her father, reprimanding the entire family for their betrayal and fake love. Karunakaran rushes to stop him and becomes depressed afterwards. Pavithra's love with Chandran is caught by her parents, for which she is shouted at and hit by them, but Karunakaran stops them and advises them to allow her to marry Chandran, since he was unable to marry the girl of his choice. Despite some hesitation, both parents relent, making everyone happy. Pandi has a hearing aid implanted in his ear and can hear again, while Chandran uses a prosthetic leg to be able to walk again, albeit with Pavithra's and his father's support. Life slowly begins looking up for the trio after a very long time, with Karunakaran also letting go of his past love for Nallammaal.
Eventually, the case filed upon the trio is withdrawn, and they find out through Karunakaran's uncle who helped them with the star-crossed lovers that they had managed to unite. Such great personal and emotional losses have gone their separate ways, having grown bored of each other and sex. They realize the battle they fought did not serve any purpose. They also learn that Saravana and his ex-wife are planning for their respective second marriages.Furious, the trio go to Kaniyakumari, to talk sense to Saravana. All of them are ridiculed and rebuffed without remorse. They gather again and prepare to kidnap Saravana and the girl. Pandi and Chandran go to Namakkal and kidnap her, while Karunakaran goes back and kidnaps Saravana. The trio bring them to a desolated forest area and whip them black and blue. Karuna then tells them to reconsider their live together, so that their sacrifices don't go in vain.
The trio then go to a tea stall, where they overhear another man trying to group people to help his friend's love and these guys volunteer.

Cast

The film score and soundtrack for Naadodigal was composed by Sundar C Babu. The song Sambho Siva Sambho was later used in the Hindi remake Rangrezz as well, albeit with a little modifications. Another song in Hindi Yaaro Aisa Hai was loosely based on Ulagil Yentha Kathal
Song TitleSingersLyricist
"Aadungada"VelmuruganKabilan
"Sambho Jagadam"Shankar MahadevanYugabharathi
"Ulagil Yentha Kathal"HariharanVaali
"Yakka Yakka"Chandran, Senthil Dass, SrilekhaNa. Muthukumar
"Sambho Siva Sambho"Shankar MahadevanYugabharathi
"Theme Music"Shankar Mahadevan
"Pain of Love"Hariharan

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.

Critical reception

Naadodigal opened to positive reviews. A critic from Sify gave 5/5 and wrote that "Nadodigal is not great cinema, but enjoyable and a welcome change in these hard days. It is eminently watchable." Bhamadevi Ravi of The Times of India rated the movie 3.5/5 and called the movie "a good show." Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff gave the film 3 out of 5, calling "Naadodigal is in its realistic feel, mostly logical screenplay and cast go a long way in making it a worthwhile watch." Aravindan DI from Nowrunning.com rated the movie 3/5 stating that "The film does carry an appealing message for today's jet-age society - it's shocking yet powerful." Another reviewer Mythily Ramachandran from Nowrunning.com gave 3 out of 5 and wrote that "Nadodigal entertains and is thought provoking. Told in simple narrative style it is presented most realistically and is a treat for lovers of good cinema." A critic from Top10Cinema wrote that "as a team and a team work, Nadodigal is a definite entertainer."

Box office

The movie was in the list of 2009 Blockbusters. According to Sify, the movie was considered to be a Super Hit verdict.

Remakes

Following its success, the film was remade in Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, and Hindi. The Kannada version, titled Hudugaru is directed by Maadesh and stars Puneeth Rajkumar, Yogesh, Srinagar Kitty, Radhika Pandit, and Abhinaya. The Telugu version, titled Shambo Shiva Shambo, named after a hit song from the original film, is directed by Samuthirakani himself, and stars Ravi Teja, Allari Naresh, Siva Balaji, Priyamani, Abhinaya, and Sunil. The Malayalam version, titled Ithu Nammude Katha, is directed by Rakesh Kannankara, and stars Asif Ali, Abhishek, Nishan, Ananya, Nimisha Suresh, and Amala Paul. The Bengali version, titled Run, is directed by Swapan Saha, and stars Rahul Banerjee, Arnab, Abhiraj, Priyanka Sarkar, and Pamela Mondal. The Hindi version, titled Rangrezz, is directed by Priyadarshan, and stars Jackky Bhagnani, Vijay Verma, Amitosh Nagpal, Priya Anand, Rajpal Yadav, and Akshara Gowda.

Awards

; Filmfare Awards South
; Vijay Awards
; Edison Awards
; Mirchi Music Awards
Mirchi Music Award for Mannin Kural - Velmurugan