Naai Sekar

Plot

Sekar is an IT employee who does not like his job much. His neighbour Rajarajan is a scientist who is hellbent on proving that it is possible to alter the DNA of humans and animals, thereby making humans have characteristics of animals. While the result of his experiment goes unexpected, one day a dog named Padayappa bites Sekar and that ends up in their characteristics getting swapped. The rest of the movie is about what happens next and how the two get back to their original selves.

Cast

• Sathish as Sekar Lakshmipathi
• Bruno as the dog Padaiyappa
  • Shiva as the voice for Padaiyappa
• Pavithra Lakshmi as Pooja Neelakandan, Sekar's love interest
• George Maryan as Scientist Rajarajan
• Kishore Rajkumar as Prakash
• Shankar–Ganesh as "Thanni Thotti" Sukumar
• Livingston as Police Officer Thangaraj
• Ilavarasu as Pooja's father
• Sriman as Inspector "Krodham" Ravi
• Gnanasambandam as Sekar's father
• Nithya Ravindran as Sekar's mother
• Manobala as Gopi
• Swaminathan as Regional Manager
• Kimu Gopal as Sekar's Team Leader
• Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Company Director
• Lollu Sabha Maaran as Maali
• KPY Bala as Colour Sattai
• Sunita Gogoi as Pooja's beautician
• Bujji Babu as Doctor
• Lallu as Delivery Boy
• Apollo Ravi as Kidnapping Gang Leader
• Master Hitesh as Sekar's brother
• Rathinam as News reader
• Vaisagh (special appearance in "Edakku Modakku")

Production

Development

The production company AGS Entertainment announced a new project with Sathish (in his debut lead role) and announced the title as Naai Sekar in September 2021. According to the director Kishore Rajkumar, the film's concept emerged from a scene in the 2011 film Mayakkam Enna, where Dhanush's character is "told to act like a dog" as a form of insult. Pavithra Lakshmi who contested earlier in Cooku with Comali season 2, was cast in the film as the female lead. The voice over for the dog was given by Shiva.

Title dispute

Actor Vadivelu also planned his next film title as Naai Sekar with director Suraj which was bankrolled by Lyca Productions and the film was a spinoff of his character Naai Sekar in the Thalai Nagaram (2006). But the title was already registered by AGS Entertainment. After a lot of discussions, AGS Entertainment still kept the film as Naai Sekar. So the makers of Vadivelu's film had to go for an alteration in the title and finalised Naai Sekar Returns as their new title.

Music

The soundtrack featured three songs with "Edakku Modakku" song composed and sung by Anirudh Ravichander. The lyric was written by Sivakarthikeyan and choreography was done by Sandy for 'Edakku Modakku' song. The other two songs were composed by Ajesh and the original background score was composed by Ms Jones Rupert.

Release and reception

Naai Sekar was released on 13 January 2022 on the occasion of Pongal. M. Suganth of The Times of India rated it 3 out of 5 stating "Naai Sekar has a great premise for a fun film, especially a kids-centric one. The brilliance of this idea is its simplicity".

References

References

1. (16 September 2021). "Sathish's debut film as hero titled Naai Sekar".
2. Venkat Sridhar, Ram. (12 January 2022). "Naai Sekar was born out of a scene from Mayakkam Enna: Director Kishore Rajkumar".
3. (9 December 2021). "Pavithra Lakshmi wraps up shooting for Naai Sekar". [[The Times of India]].
4. (2 January 2022). "Shiva dubs for a dog in Sathish's Naai Sekar". [[The Times of India]].
5. (7 September 2021). "Fresh trouble for Vadivelu's 'Naai Sekar'!".
6. (17 September 2021). "Sathish's next titled Naai Sekar, a big loss for Vadivelu!".
7. (16 September 2021). "The title of Vadivelu and Suraj's 'Naai Sekar' goes for an alteration". [[The Times of India]].
8. (13 December 2021). "Vadivelu's Naai Sekar Returns begins; cast revealed". [[The Times of India]].
9. (1 December 2021). "Sivakarthikeyan pens song for actor Sathish's 'Naai Sekar'".
10. (30 November 2021). "Choreographer Sandy to direct a dance number for Sathish's 'Naai Sekar'". [[The Times of India]].
11. (8 January 2022). "Tamil movies that are releasing for Pongal 2022". [[The Times of India]].
12. Suganth, M. (13 January 2022). "Naai Sekar Movie Review : A simplistic high-concept comedy that could have been more inventive". [[The Times of India]].