Naanum Rowdy Dhaan

Pandiyan, aka "Pondy Pandi" (Vijay Sethupathi), is the son of Puducherry-based police inspector P. Meena Kumari. Despite being an inspector's son, he grows up being friendly with criminals and upon reaching adulthood, unbeknownst to his mother, he becomes a thug, though an incompetent one.

Pandi and his friends come across a deaf woman, Kadhambari (Nayantara), and Pandi immediately falls in love with her. Kadhambari is the daughter of an honest police officer, Ravikumar.

15 years before, then sub-inspector Ravikumar was in pursuit of Killivallavan, aka Killi , a dreaded gangster. Killi had been arrested in public by Ravi, and in retaliation, Killi slapped Ravi when he was shopping with Kathambari. Later, Ravi arrested almost all of Killi's gang members. Feeling angered, Killi sent Ravi a bomb as a gift. The bomb killed Ravi's wife and caused his daughter Kadhambari to lose her hearing. Afterward, Ravi and his daughter moved to another part of the country and didn't return until Ravi's last year of service.

Kadhambari seeks Pandi's help to find her father, who has not spoken to her for the past two days. Pandi soon learns that Ravikumar was killed by Killi the same night he met Kadhambari, but hides the fact from her so as not to upset her. A week later, Kadhambari learns about her father's death and is determined to avenge him by going after Killi. Pandi agrees to help her, with the promise that he will restrain Killi while she stabs him.

Pandi and his gang, along with Kadhambari, hatch a plan to kill Killi while he is travelling. However, this is foiled as their plan gets mixed up with that of Mansoor , Killi's political rival, who wants to contest the upcoming election in place of Killi's mistress Baby. Pandi's gang is enraged and despite Pandi's reassurances, they decide not to help Kadhambari further. She then decides to go ahead on her own as she does not want Pandi and his friends to split up over her. She reaches Killi's hideout, but on attempting to kill him, he knocks her out. Pandi soon arrives at the hideout and he and Kadhambari, who has regained consciousness, try to kill the gangster, but they are unsuccessful. At this juncture, Mansoor arrives at the hideout; both he and Killi stab each other to death, with Pandi falsely taking credit for their deaths in order to impress Kadhambari. Ultimately, Pandi, disillusioned with the thug lifestyle, becomes a police officer as per his mother's wishes.

In April 2013, Vignesh Shivan, who had directed Podaa Podi (2012), announced that he was set to make a film featuring music composer Anirudh Ravichander in the leading role. The project, titled Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, was described as an "urban flick" and the team tried to rope in Samantha Ruth Prabhu for the female lead role.[4] The film was named after a dialogue spoken by Vadivelu in Thalai Nagaram (2006).[5] The following month, Ravichander chose not to make an acting debut and the film was briefly shelved as the team looked for a replacement lead actor.[6]

The project was subsequently officially announced by Gautham Menon in November 2013. Menon revealed that he would produce the film and that they had signed Gautham Karthik to appear in the leading role, while Ravichander would retain his position as composer.[7] George Williams was signed as the cinematographer after being acclaimed for his work in Raja Rani, while Dilip Subbarayan was announced as the film's action director.[8] Vignesh Shivan revealed that the film would be based on a 19-year-old youngster caught in the midst of a gangster setting and noted he hoped to shoot the film in Mumbai, Chennai, and Puducherry.[9] Lavanya Tripathi was signed on to play the female lead role of a deaf girl and noted that she was impressed by Shivan's narration of the script.[10] However, the film failed to take off and Shivan continued to discuss the project with different actors including Ashok Selvan, as he looked for a producer.[11]

On 29 August 2014, during Vinayagar Chathurthi, Dhanush announced via Twitter that he would be producing the film under his Wunderbar Film banner and also posted details about the cast and crew and the title design. While the principal crew was retained, the lead roles went to Vijay Sethupathi and Nayantara.[2] The team began the shoot in December 2014, with the first leg of the venture held in Pondicherry for a span of 40 days. Scenes were shot at the Thirukameeswarar Temple in Villianur, a famous town 9 km away from Pondicherry.[12] RJ Balaji joined the cast during the first schedule.[13] Director Vignesh Shivan revealed that Vijay Sethupathi had put on weight for some of his recent roles, so he worked hard for two months to shed those pounds. He worked out and went on an extensive diet regime as well.[14] Anandaraj joined the team in December 2014 and revealed he would play a gangster.[15]

Vignesh Shivan, who had worked with Dharan Kumar on the soundtrack of his first film, chose to hire Anirudh Ravichander to compose the music for Naanum Rowdy Dhaan. The soundtrack includes six tracks, four of which also feature Ravichander's voice. Additionally, Neeti Mohan, Benny Dayal, Sid Sriram, and Sean Roldan, contributed vocals to the album. In a unique manner, the songs were released separately as singles in late September and early October 2015; an audio launch function was not held.[16]

The soundtrack album of the Telugu dubbed version, titled Nenu Rowdy Ne, was released on 15 January 2016.

Naanum Rowdy Dhaan was released worldwide on 21 October 2015.

The movie was released by Herotalkies on their online movie streaming portal to audiences outside India.[20]

Naanum Rowdy Dhaan received positive reviews. Behindwoods rated the film 3 out of 5 and noted, "Naanum Rowdy Dhaan is sure to entertain you and your family this festival season. This is a film that you can just relax, sit back and enjoy with a tub of butter popcorn!".[21] Sify wrote, "Vignesh Sivan's Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (NRD) is a feel-good laugh riot, a perfect movie to hang out with friends. You are guaranteed loads of fun and are sure to come out with a big smile on your face".[22] Only Kollywood called it "recommended watch".[23] Times of India wrote, "The plot might come across as a serious revenge drama, but Vignesh Shivan displays a lightness of touch throughout that makes the film so much fun. And, he keeps things breezy even when situations get serious".[24] Sify wrote, "NRD is a well made comedy entertainer, and all credit goes to Vignesh Shivan who delivers one of the most pleasing films of the year. Fun, but with warmth at its heart. Don't miss it."[22] The Times of India gave 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Family Entertainer".[24]

On social media and on WhatsApp, a scene from the movie where Nayanthara is seen buying beer from a liquor store went viral before the movie's release. The Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) opposed the scene and demanded that it be deleted, otherwise during its launch they would protest the film and Nayanthara.[25] In Chennai, the HMK put up signs showing portraits of Nayanthara draped with a beer bottle garland. After Nayanthara released a statement saying it was just a scene filmed for a movie, her effigy was publicly burned by Hindu Munnani on February 2015.[26]

Nayanthara's dialogue, "Ongala Podanum Sir", spoken within the film, inspired a movie of the same name.[27]

• Naanum Rowdy Dhaan on Facebook
• Naanum Rowdy Dhaan at IMDb