The film, based loosely on the life of real-life don Varadaraja Mudaliar, is seen as a nod to the Francis Ford Coppola classic The Godfather.

Comparisons between Kamal’s National Award-winning portrayal of Velusamy Naicker, the runaway kid who rises to the top of Mumbai's underworld pile, with Marlon Brando’s performance as Don Vito Corleone were inevitable, often to Kamal’s detriment.

I once asked him about that. Brando, I pointed out, had done the role with chilling restraint; why did you feel the need, at times, to be over-the-top loud?

Remember, Kamal asked me, the scene where Brando makes the Hollywood film producer an offer he can’t refuse? Remember what happens when he turns the offer down? Next morning, he wakes up to find the severed head of Khartoum, his million dollar race horse, on the bed beside him.

When next Brando says, ‘I’ll make you an offer you cannot refuse’, it is this image that jumps to your mind. It is this scene that endows his words with that menace.

Kamal’s point was that a role had to be played out against the totality of the movie. An actor couldn’t underplay only -– simply -– because someone else had done so, to brilliant effect, in a similar movie.

It is the story of a boy who avenges the death of his union-leader father, and runs away to Mumbai, where he is gradually drawn to a life of crime. He rises to the top of the underworld and, in the process, loses all that he loved.

Nayakan is, among other things, notable for highlighting the Mani Ratnam stamp of filmmaking. Ratnam brought to the medium the methods of a top flight manager. He assembled his team with care, gave each a responsibility, then freed them up to fulfill them.

In that sense, Ratnam -– despite exercising complete creative control -– is more the facilitator than a ‘daddy knows best’ type director.

That method resulted in a film wherein every member of the cast and crew delivered. The performances were nuanced to perfection. The onscreen cast was backed by Ilayaraja’s music, P C Sriram’s cinematography and inspired set design by Thota Tharani, the artiste whom Ratnam roped into the film medium to brilliant effect.