Nallavan (1988 film)

Nallavan (transl. Good Man) is a 1988 Indian Tamil-language action film, directed by S. P. Muthuraman and produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu and Ibrahim Rowther. It stars Vijayakanth, Radhika and M. N. Nambiar. The film, released on 15 August 1988,^[1] was a box office success.^[2]

Nallavan
Poster
Directed by	S. P. Muthuraman
Written by	Kalaipuli S. Thanu
Produced by	Kalaipuli S. Thanu Ibrahim Rowther
Starring	Vijayakanth Radhika M. N. Nambiar
Cinematography	T. S. Vinayagam
Edited by	R. Vittal C. Lancy
Music by	Chandrabose
Production companies	Kalaippuli International Tamilannai Cine Creation
Release date	15 August 1988 (1988-08-15)
Running time	140 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Gurumoorthy and Raja are twin brothers. Guru is set to marry a collector. On the day of the marriage, Raja is kidnapped and shown a photo where he is stabbing Manju. Raja realises it is Guru in the photo. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

Cast

• Vijayakanth in a dual role as
  • Gurumoorthy "Guru"
  • Raja
• Radhika as Collector Ponni
• M. N. Nambiar as Guru and Raja's father
• S. S. Chandran as Point
• Janagaraj as Madhu
• Kitty as Vikram
• Vani Viswanath as Radha
• Manimala as Guru and Raja's mother
• Disco Shanti as Manju
• Thyagu as Peter
• Charle as Raja's friend
• Chinni Jayanth as Raja's friend
• Achamillai Gopi as Shankar

Production

Kalaipuli S. Thanu expressed his interest to produce a film with S. P. Muthuraman as director and Vijayakanth as lead which eventually became Nallavan.^[3][4] The film featured Vijayakanth in dual roles and most of the scenes involving them together in single frame were shot using Mitchell Camera by the cinematographer T. S. Vinayagam.^[5]

The stunt scenes and a song were picturised and shot at Kashmir. Muthuraman revealed that the crew faced tough time to shoot at the 600 feet hills for a fight sequence, they had to use horses travel to hills and also used to transport costumes and foods there.^[6] The climax fight sequence was shot with 100 lorries which came to Ladakh to provide food to people there.^[7]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Chandrabose and the lyrics were written by Thanu.^[8][9]

Song	Singers	Length
"Aaraaro Naan"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vanitha	04:32
"Mellam Kotti"	Malaysia Vasudevan, K. S. Chithra	04:31
"Ullathil Ondru"	S. P. Sailaja	04:34
"Vaanam Boomi"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	06:10
"Vaanmegam"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra	04:37
"Vetrimala Vetridhan"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	04:32

Reception

N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express wrote, "The script is full of holes [..] Thanu, the producer of the film is credited with the script too. He has only himself to blame. S. P. Muthuraman directs the film as best as he can within the limitations of the canvass".^[10] Jayamanmadhan of Kalki also criticised the film for its writing.^[11]