High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Nayagan, also known as Nayakan, is a 1987 Tamil film, written and directed by Mani Ratnam and starring Kamal Haasan. It is based on the real-life Bombay underworld don Varada aka Varadarajan Mudaliar, and sympathetically depicts the struggle of South Indians living in Bombay. The film also stars Saranya Ponvannan in her silver screen debut, Karthika, Nassar, Janagaraj, Delhi Ganesh and Tinnu Anand. The soundtrack of the film was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and met with a successful response after release.