Cast: Kamal Haasan, Saranya, Janagaraj, Nasser
Music: Ilaiyaraaja
Direction: Mani Ratnam
Release date: 1987
Language: Tamil
Part 1
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Part 2
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Plot:
Velu Nayagan, the protagonist, is born to a union leader involved in various anti-government movements. The child Velu witnesses his father's death in a police shootout. Orphaned, he escapes to Bombay.Stranded and homeless in the big city, he is rescued by a kind-hearted Muslim fisherman who takes him into his home in the sprawling suburban slums of Dharavi. His foster-father is also a small-time smuggler known for his generosity in the slum. Upon his running afoul of a senior crimelord -- the corrupt local police officer Inspector Kelkar -- the fisherman is arrested on smuggling charges, and later murdered. Velu Nayagan, now a young man who has come into his own, goes in search of the officer and bludgeons him to death.
With this act, he is seen at once a saviour and a man to be feared amongst the slum residents. As their godfather and protector, he flourishes by resuming his dead foster-father's local smuggling activities. He marries a destitute school-girl-turned-prostitute and sires two children. Conflicts and power struggles occur in the competitive web of the smuggling world, in which Velu's wife becomes a casuality. Velu's kids are sent away from home as a result and return years later to their father's home, as young adults.
The son, a chip off the old block, is eager to join his father in his activities. He takes on an assignment to eliminate a potential witness against his father, which costs him his life. Velu's daughter is at odds with her father over his form of justice and killings. The death of her brother was the final straw for her and she cuts off her relationship with her father and leaves him.
A newly appointed Assistant Police Commissioner starts afresh the hunt to bring Velu Nayagan to justice over his alleged activities, and manages to secure an arrest warrant. More encounters take place but Velu gives himself up to the authorities to spare the lives of the residents of his slum. He is tried in court but is released due to the lack of adequate evidence for his involvement in the alleged nefarious activities. A supportive and emotional crowd gathers at the courthouse, awaiting Velu's release. Velu emerges to greet the tumultuous crowd but is unexpectedly assassinated on the court premises by Inspector Kelkar's retarded son— whom Velu had adopted— when he learns that Velu was the cause of his father's death.
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