The film was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1987. In 2005, Time Magazine included Nayagan in its "All-Time 100 Best Films" list.

The film was dubbed in Telugu under the title Nayakudu. It was remade in Hindi cinema as Dayavan in 1988, with Vinod Khanna playing the part of Saktivelu and with Feroz Khan and Madhuri Dixit the roles of Selvam and Neela. A Hindi dubbed version of the film was released as Velu Nayakan in 1999.

Sakthivelu Nayakar (Kamal Haasan), the protagonist, is born to an anti-government union leader. The child, Velu, is tricked by the police into locating his father, and then witnesses his father's death in a police shootout. Then after...     [ More ]