When S Shankar’s directorial Nayak released in theatres in 2001, it was a damp squib at the box office. Most critics had ripped it apart, disapproving of the film’s length, the heightened theatrics and unnecessary use of special effects in some parts. Most of the movie-going audience refused to suspend disbelief for a scene where the antagonist turns into a gigantic snake and chases the lead characters across a chess board. According to Box Office India, Nayak: The Real Hero was made on a budget of Rs. 21,00,00,000 and could only collect Rs. 18,06,00,000 at the box office.
The political thriller, a remake of the director’s own Tamil movie Mudhalvan, found its true audience when it became a fixture on television, being telecast repeatedly for several years after its release. Despite telling an implausible story of a TV cameraperson turning into Maharashtra’s chief minister for one day, the film resonated with the powerless common man who probably hopes for a miraculous solution to his daily struggles.
Here are the major high points of the movie that elevated Nayak to cult status over the years.
• The film is a total masala entertainer and over the top, so it can be a polarizing watch. The film is as high-pitched as Pooja Batra’s voice, there is nothing subtle about it. In one scene, Anil Kapoor literally gets down to a gutter while fighting goons, and is washed clean with milk for want of water. The director cleverly uses theatrics to highlight relatable issues, so it’s impossible not to root for the protagonist and revel in his rise to power.
• Anil Kapoor as the ideal man who enters the system and cleans it from the inside out. As a cameraperson helping injured people in a riot, a TV anchor asking tough questions to the state’s chief minister, or as CM Shivaji Shinde demolishing corrupt practices in minutes, Anil was presented as the common man hero everyone loved. His triumphant walk to dramatic music each time he solved a problem or punished a criminal is too satisfactory to not cheer for.
• The film invokes myriad feelings – anger, frustration, helplessness to hope, triumph and revenge. From riot scenes and bomb blasts to romantic song and dance numbers, director Shankar takes us on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. It also fits in every well alongside the Bollywood entertainers that a family would want to watch together on a Sunday.
• What probably resonated the most with the audience was one common man’s fight against a corrupt system. It’s a formula that has worked well in several films, but not many films have been able to hand over the power to the common man like Nayak does, and therein lies its singular appeal.
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