A. M. Nandakumar

A. M. Nandakumar is an Indian film director and screenwriter who has worked on Tamil films. He made his debut with the 2003 action drama film, Thennavan starring Vijaykanth and Kiran Rathod.

A. M. Nandakumar
OccupationFilm director Screen writer
Years active1997—present

Career

After working as an assistant director for several years, Nandakumar successfully pitched the story of Kodiesvaran to producer K. T. Kunjumon.[1] After initially considering either Vijay or Ajith Kumar for the lead role, the team went ahead with the producer's son, Eby Kunjumon. The film started production in 1997 with Eby appearing alongside Simran, with 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][4]

Nandakumar swiftly moved on and worked on another script titled Aasan. He approached Vijayakanth to work on the film, but during the narration, it became clear that the script had been already pitched to the actor as Ramana by AR Murugadoss.[1] 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 shoot with a thirty-day schedule in Tenkasi in Southern Tamil Nadu.[8] The making of the film was disrupted in January 2006, when actress Nila briefly walked out of the film after falling out with the producers.[9][10] The film opened in September 2006 and received predominantly negative reviews.[11] A critic from Sify.com 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".[12] 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."[13] Indiaglitz.com also noted the similarity adding "director Nandakumar has taken cue from a few 'mass films', but just has not managed to cobble them with any sense of purpose."[14]

In 2014, Nandakumar made Kalkandu and the film gained media attention prior to release, owing to the lead actor Gajesh's debut. The actor was the son of actor-dancer Anand Babu and grandson of comedian Nagesh.[15] 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.[16] The film was shot mainly in Tamil Nadu, in places such as Tiruchi and Kanyakumari.[17] The film had a limited release in October 2014, owing to the presence of bigger budget films at the box office. It opened to mixed reviews with a critics noting the film "gets stuck towards average." Another reviewer noted that the film had a dated feel and called it "excruciatingly long".[18]

Filmography
Year Film Language Notes
2003ThennavanTamil
2006JambhavanTamil
2014KalkanduTamil
2020Kesavan — K7TamilFilming

References
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWg-VfsRVgE
  2. "Madras calling". Rediff. 13 October 1998. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. https://readtiger.com/https/www.rediff.com/movies/2001/jan/27tamil.htm
  4. "rediff.com, Movies: Gossip from the southern film industry". www.rediff.com.
  5. "Thennavan". 22 August 2003 – via www.thehindu.com.
  6. "Tamil movies : Prashanth's Jambavan will be launched in Tirupathi". www.behindwoods.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  7. "Tamil movies : Prashanth's Jambavan has high glamour index". www.behindwoods.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  8. "My kind of place -- PRASANTH". The Hindu. 17 April 2006. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  9. "Cinema News | Movie Reviews | Movie Trailers - IndiaGlitz". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  10. "Nila pulls a surprise - Tamil Movie News - IndiaGlitz". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  11. "Box Office - Flurry of films this weekend - Kannada Movie News - IndiaGlitz". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  12. "Sify Movies - Review listing (1970)". www.sify.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  13. http://www.reocities.com/bbreviews/2006/jaambavaan.html
  14. "Cinema News | Movie Reviews | Movie Trailers - IndiaGlitz". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  15. "Gajesh will recreate Nagesh's magic on screen: Director". Sify. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  16. "Nagesh to dance in grandson's film?". 25 September 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2019 – via www.thehindu.com.
  17. Ramanujam, Srinivasa (21 July 2014). "'My grandfather was a huge inspiration'". Retrieved 21 April 2019 – via www.thehindu.com.
  18. November 1, Deepika Ramesh On; 2014 (1 November 2014). "Kalkandu Review: Not So Sweet". silverscreen.in. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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