Dayavan
Tags: romantic, murder

Plot synopsis:
After having witnessed his dad being killed by the local police, and being orphaned and homeless, Shakti Velu develops a hatred and distrust of the police in India. He is befriended by another homeless boy named Shanker, who asks him to accompany him to Bombay's slums, where they live with a kind-hearted Muslim named Karim Baba, and his daughter, Shama. This is where Shakti and Shankar spend their childhood. When they mature, they take to petty crime. Here too, Shakti witnesses police brutality and atrocities, especially at the hands of sadistic, alcoholic, and womanizing Police Inspector Ratan Singh. When Karim Baba is arrested, jailed, and found hanging by his neck in police custody, Shakti hunts down Ratan Singh, and kills him in broad daylight in front of the several hundred people. An investigation is launched, but no one comes forward as a witness. Thus Shakti gets his reputation as a Don with a good heart i.e., Dayavan. Shakti marries local prostitute, Neelu, and has two children, Suraj and Sarita. He becomes even more powerful and influential all over Bombay, and his working partners are powerful criminal dons who have ruled over Bombay for eons. Shakti eventually replaces these dons, and becomes Bombay's only Don. This creates enemies for him and his family, but he believes since he has not really done any harm to anyone, he and his family will be safe. It is this belief that will take a heavy toll on his life and that of his family, when the truth dawns that he, himself, is responsible for being kind to a man, who will ultimately bring forward ruin to the Velu family.

Review: Perhaps Vinod's Best.
It is perhaps Vinod's best movie.
Vinod was a talented and original actor but it was pity that he left the film industry for a long interval.
This interruption caused much damage to his career otherwise he might be among great heroes.
Dayavan is a good movie telling the crude realities of criminal and poor life.
Perhaps it is a remake of Kamal Hassan's movie and Vinod is successful in recreating the character of Shakti.
Film runs on pace and plot twists grip the movie-goer but the last part of the movies seems a bit weak.
Perhaps discredit goes to Adita Pancholi's weak acting.
Overall, movies is worthy to be collectd and a must see for those who want real life action and story..
a superb movie.
It's a great saga .
The story of a hero among the poor and the exploited.
It keeps you engrossed throughout.
A fast paced movie, Superb screen play ,real depiction of life.The fight scenes are superbThe songs are just situational and not inserted just like that like in some movies.there are hardly 2 songs.
It's nice that the director hasn't wasted time on songs and focused on the content.
It's a complete story.It's not just a love story;it includes a love story as a part of the main plot.All other sub plots are equally interesting.You will find almost all situations in life here It shows all kinds of people.It is said to be based on Kamal Hassan's movie in Tamil.
Kudos to Feroz Khan and Vinod Khanna for making this movie for Hindi audiences..
A Hindi Remake Of The Original Famous Tamil Film Nayagan(1988) which Starred Kamal Hassan And Was Directed By Mani Ratnam..
I saw Nagayan Hindi dubbed version, and now I can make a comparison between the two.
I also recommend that you see this excellent Hindi dubbed version of Nayagan before you watch Dayavan.
The main comparsion between the two films is that Nagayan is a more-to the-point film, whereas Dayavan like all Bollywood films has masala (spices) added to it to make it more appealing.If you ask me frankly, I would say that Nayagan is a better film in all respects and brilliantly acted and directed as well.
I should advise you to see and own both Nagayan and Dayavan.(Everyone is entitled to his/hers own opinion.)Changes: the role which Kamal Hassan played as the main figure is now replaced by the excellent veteran actor Vinod Khana.
This is one of his most famous roles.
The film also stars the actor and director of the film, the late Bollywood Legend Feroz Khan whose loss is still deeply felt to me.
Feroz Khan's career in Bollywood is legendary and his movies are all blockbusters.
I like his style of direction and the way he introduces characters in the film.
This film is also one of his biggest contributions to Bollywood.Maduri Dixit is stunning as always.
And her acting is on a different level altogether.
She still is the best actress in Bollywood and the pace-setter.The songs in the film are the highlight.
"Aaj phir tum pe pyar aaya hai..." is my personal favorite.
This song is sung by the Legendary Pankaj Udhas.Plot: After having witnessed the tragic death of his father by the local South Indian police, and being orphaned and homeless, Shakti Velhu develops a hate, and distrust of the police in India.
He is befriended by another homeless boy named Shanker, who asks him to accompany him to Bombay's slumlands, where they live with a kind-hearted Muslim named Karim Baba, and his daughter, Shama.
This is where Shakti and Shankar spend their childhood.
When they mature, they take to petty crime.
Here too, Shakti witnesses police brutality and atrocities, especially at the hands of Police Inspector Ratan Singh.
When Karim Baba is arrested, jailed, and found dead in police custody, Shakti hunts down Ratan Singh.
An investigation is launched, but no one comes forward as a witness.
Thus Shakti gets his reputation as a Don with a good heart viz.
Dayavan.
Shakti marries Neelu, and has two children, Suraj and Sarita.
He becomes even more powerful and influential all over Bombay, and his working partners are powerful criminal dons who have ruled over Bombay for eons.
Shakti eventually replaces these dons, and becomes Bombay's only Don. This creates enemies for him and his family, but he believes since he has not really done any harm to anyone, he and his family will be safe.
It is this belief that will take a heavy toll on his life and that of his family.Full 10/10: a must have film for all Hindi film lovers, and Feroz Khan and Vinod Khanna fans..
A poor remake of Tamil Original.
I had watched this movie while I was studying in Madras (Tamil Nadu).
This movie is a poor copy of an excellent Tamil movie named Nayakan.
The problem is that Dayavan movie pretended that it is not a copy and did a very poor job of copying.
Dayavan is produced and directed by Feroz Khan who made some mega productions like Qurbani and Jaanbaaz.
In this movie Feroz took the short cut and copied a widely popular movie without putting any though on his own.
I was very impressed by the photography of the original Nayakan which captured the loneliness of a boy while keeping things dim.
Dayavaan failed on the photography front.
Nayakan starred Kamal Hassan who very deftly portrayed his characters with equal measure of strength and hesitation.
Vinod Khanna in Dayavan doesn't even come close to Kamal in capturing the range of emotions.
Watch a scene in the movie where Kamal and Vinod grieve for their dead son and note that Vinod was copying Kamal and still did a bad job of it.
Original movie had excellent score provided by Illayaraja and it was poorly copied in Dayavaan.
Overall I was very disappointed to see this remake/copy..
Cant be compared to Nayakan but yet a good film.
Feroz Khan as a filmmaker made some few decent films like Dharmatma & Qurbani, After JAANBAAZ he made this film which was a remake of Nayakan The film had ageing superstar Vinod Khanna with newbie Madhuri, Aditya Panscholi and of course Feroz Khan.
The film is also claimed to be based on real life gangster Varadarajan Mudaliar, strangely even Amitabh seems to have copied his gruffy voice in Agneepath.
The film starts off with Vinod and Feroz both slowly making into the world of crime after some atriocities.
Then he becomes a Godfather type image, there are several twists and turns, In many ways it's different from Feroz's normal films, here the focus is more on drama less on style and himself.
The film is well handled by Feroz Khan, I wont compare it to Mani Ratnam's Nayakan but yet its a good film Music is decent, Aaj Phir Tumpe is a superb song sung by Pankaj Uddhas and Anuradha Paudwal, other songs are good tooVinod Khanna is exceptional, he has always been superb as an actor, he gives it his all and is superb Feroz Khan is decent in his small role, Madhuri is okay, she gets less scope, Tinnu Anand is good, Amrish Puri is okay in a brief role Aditya Panscholi is okay