A. M. Nandakumar
A.M. Nandakumar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Aranthangi, Pudukottai District |
| Alma mater | VSS Govt. Arts College |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screen writer |
| Years active | 1997 — present |
A. M. Nandakumar is an Indian film director and screenwriter who has worked on Tamil language films. His first was the 2003 action drama film, Thennavan, starring Vijaykanth and Kiran Rathod.
Career
[edit]After working as an assistant director for several years to P. Vasu, Manivannan and Rajasekar, Nandakumar successfully pitched the story of Kodiesvaran to the producer K. T. Kunjumon.[1] After initially considering either Vijay or Ajith Kumar for the lead role, the team chose the producer's son, Eby Kunjumon. Production started in 1997 with Eby appearing with Simran and the Hindi actress Karisma Kapoor making a guest appearance in an item number.[2] The film's music album and trailer were released in early 1999, but Kunjumon's financial troubles meant that the film failed to have a theatrical release. If released, the film would have been among the highest budgeted films of the time.[3] As the film became stuck, Nandakumar worked on a Japanese film titled Nattu Odoru! Ninja Densetsu, starring Neha Dhupia, that was shot in Chennai.[4]
Nandakumar worked on another script titled Aasan. He approached Vijayakanth to work on the film, but it became clear that the script had been already pitched to the actor as Ramana by AR Murugadoss. Following the confusion, Vijayakanth apologetically called Nandakumar to make another film with him titled Thennavan (2003).[1] The film opened to mixed reviews, with a critic from The Hindu noting, "Thennavan would have been a tailor made story for Vijayakanth but for the flawed script, clichéd dialogue and unappealing caricatures. Somewhere down the line everyone from the director (M. Nandakumaran) and the hero seem to have lost interest."[5]
Nandakumar announced Jambhavan (2006) in December 2005 and began production shortly after a launch event held in Tirupathi.[6] Prashanth was signed to play the lead role, while Nila and Meghna Naidu were signed to portray the film's lead heroines.[7] The team began filming with a 30-day schedule in Tenkasi in southern Tamil Nadu.[8] The making of the film was disrupted in January 2006, when the actress Nila briefly walked out of the film after falling out with the producers.[9] The film opened in September 2006 and received predominantly negative reviews.[10] A critic from Sify noted, "This film is a slapdash enterprise that will make you groan," adding "It caters strictly to B and C class audiences and leaves you cold."[11] Another reviewer noted the similarity to Baashha (1995) adding "the quality of these remakes has ranged from entertaining to outright bad and Prashanth's Jaambavan unfortunately comes in at the lower end of that scale".[12] Indiaglitz also noted the similarity adding that "director Nandakumar has taken cue from a few 'mass films', but just has not managed to cobble them with any sense of purpose".[13]
In 2014, Nandakumar made Kalkandu and the film gained media attention before release, owing to the lead actor Gajesh's debut. He was the son of the actor-dancer Anand Babu and grandson of the comedian Nagesh.[14] Following the appearance of late actor Nagesh's animation in Kochadaiiyaan (2014), Nandakumar insisted on having a sequence in his film, where all three generations of the family appear in one scene through computer imagery.[15] The film was shot mainly in Tamil Nadu, in places such as Tiruchi and Kanyakumari.[16] It had a limited release in October 2014, owing to the presence of bigger budget films at the box office, and opened to mixed reviews with a critics noting it "gets stuck towards average".[citation needed] Another reviewer noted that the film had a dated feel and called it "excruciatingly long".[17] Nandakumar later worked on a project titled K7 - Kesavan with debutant Sakthivel, though the film failed to have a theatrical release.
Filmography
[edit]Films
[edit]| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Thennavan | |
| 2006 | Jambhavan | |
| 2014 | Kalkandu |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Functioned as | Production House | Channel | Language | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Project Head | |||||
| 2018 | Maya | Yes | No | Avni Telemedia | Sun TV | |
| 2019 | Lakshmi Stores | No | Yes | Avni Telemedia | Sun TV | Tamil & Telugu |
| 2021 | Jyothi | No | Yes | Avni Telemedia | Sun TV | |
| 2024 | Moondru Mudichu | Yes | No | A R Film World | Sun TV | |
References
[edit]- ^ a b Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: டூப்பும் மனுஷன்தான.. அவனுக்கு குடும்பம் இல்லயா? கோபப்பட்ட கேப்டன் - Thennavan Director Nandakumar – via YouTube.
- ^ "Madras calling". Rediff. 13 October 1998. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- ^ "Movies: On the floors". Rediff. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020.
- "Gossip from the southern film industry". Rediff. - ^ "Dinakaran". Archived from the original on 17 April 2001.
- ^ "Thennavan". The Hindu. 22 August 2003.
- ^ "Prashanth's Jambavan will be launched in Tirupathi". Behind Woods. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ "Prashanth's Jambavan has high glamour index". Behind Woods. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ "My kind of place – Prasanth". The Hindu. 17 April 2006. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ "Jambavan". IndiaGlitz. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- "Nila pulls a surprise". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 6 January 2018. - ^ "Box Office - Flurry of films this weekend". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ "Review listing (1970)". Sify. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ "Jaambavaan: A movie review by Balaji Balasubramaniam". Reocities. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
- ^ "Cinema News". IndiaGlitz. Archived from the original on 26 June 2006. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- ^ "Gajesh will recreate Nagesh's magic on screen: Director". Sify. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
- ^ "Nagesh to dance in grandson's film?". The Hindu. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
- ^ Ramanujam, Srinivasa (21 July 2014). "'My grandfather was a huge inspiration'". The Hindu. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
- ^ Ramesh, Deepika (1 November 2014). "Kalkandu Review: Not So Sweet". Silver Screen. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2019.