Shankar had first offered the 1999 political action film Mudhalvan to Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan before casting Arjun. In 2001, when he made its Bollywood remake Nayak, his first choices were Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan but eventually, he made his Hindi directorial debut with Anil Kapoor.
From Aamir Khan-starrer Ghajini that became the first Bollywood film to cross Rs 100 crore at the domestic box office to Ajay Devgn-starrer Singham that led to Rohit Shetty's cop universe, there have been many Bollywood blockbusters which have been remade from Tamil movies. One such film, that didn't became a blockbuster but achieved a cult status, is Anil Kapoor-starrer Nayak.
The 2001 film Nayak: The Real Hero was the remake of the the 1999 Tamil film Mudhalvan. Both the movies were directed by Shankar Shanmugam, more famously known as Shankar. The popular director wanted to cast Rajinikanth for the lead role in Mudhalvan, but he refused it due to unknown reasons. Shankar then approached Kamal Haasan, but the latter was busy in his own directorial Hey Ram and hence, turned down the film. Finally, Shankar cast Arjun Sarja or simply Arjun, and the film became a blockbuster and ran for over 100 days in Tamil Nadu.
In 2001, Shankar decided to enter Bollywood and remake Mudhalvan in Hindi as Nayak. He even named his titular protagonist in Nayak as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, real name of Rajinikanth, who was his original choice for the Tamil film. The director initially approached Aamir Khan for the role but as revealed by Shankar himself in the 2001 Filmfare issue, "But the two of us faced a huge communication gap. His views about Mudhalvan didn't match mine, so I quickly moved on." He then approached Shah Rukh Khan, but since the latter had played a TV journalist in Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani in 2000, he refused the offer. Finally, the filmmaker cast Anil Kapoor for the film. Made on a budget of Rs 21 crore, Nayak earned Rs 18 crore net in India, as per Box Office India, but the film has achieved a cult status over the years as it became one of the most screened movies on cable television.
Mudhalvan and Nayak revolved around a TV journalist, who exposes the sitting Chief Minister in a live interview on national television. The CM challenges him to take up his position for a single day. The journalist accepts the offer and as he strives to clean politics from corruption in a single day, he and his family get embroiled into the political nexus.
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 "A still from Shankar's Nayak/YouTube screengrab")
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