GDN Review: Madhavan Lifts Generic Biopic

GDN has a fascinating genius at its centre, but Madhavan's terrific performance is let down by a repetitive, overly familiar biopic treatment, asserts Sreeju Sudhakaran.

R Madhavan is now besotted with doing biopics, it seems, of genius visionaries whom the nation, or rather, the governments of their time, allegedly betrayed or let down.

He led and directed Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, where he played former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan.

Now in GDN, which is directed by debutant Krishnakumar Ramakumar, who wrote the screenplay with its lead star, Madhavan plays Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu, a former Indian pioneer who was hailed for his various contributions to fields like industry, automobiles, agriculture, etc.

But just like Rocketry, GDN takes the by-the-numbers approach of familiarising us with his story, where the lead actor's performance completely outshines the laggard screenplay he is in. Of course, before we get to know Naidu's story, we have to know why this famous man is not celebrated enough because how can a biopic be made without instilling some guilt in the viewer?

Unpacking G D Naidu's Legacy

So we have this meeting of people involved in deciding what should be included in the school syllabus, discussing GDN, whom some call a brilliant innovator despite his third-standard education, while others call him a lunatic or a terrorist. They discuss whether his life should be taught in classrooms or not.

One administrator, played by Aditi Balan, wants them to know more about GDN's life, claiming history is written by those in control, and then she gives them the real 'story' of the man to read. Well, going by her own logic, shouldn't what she has written also be biased, considering she wants his story to be included?

Anyway, we have to go with what she says, so let's dive into G D Naidu's life, which begins in 1914 in the pre-Independence era, when he is a young man (played by Teejay Arunasalam) obsessed with the motorbikes that the British used to drive. He is also shown to be kind-hearted, giving away his savings to poor villagers so that they can continue their strike to earn more money from farming.

We see how he buys his first bike, studies its functions, before incorporating his ingenious mindset into other fields. We see his rise as a cotton farmer, by which time he begins to look like R Madhavan, his fall, his rise again in the transport and automobile business, his fall, his rise, his fall... It is a rinse, rise and repeat approach from here on.

The Film's Narrative Shortcomings

GDN the movie wants you to familiarise yourself with the man, the genius, without really making you connect with his intellect before moving on to the next achievement or roadblock. We see all these major events of his life like a choreographed slideshow: Him creating the first Indian-made motor, his collaborations with the British while also showing his patriotic dissing of their ways, his trip to Germany where he gets an award from Hitler himself, him impressing Benz, his rise creating enemies, a couple of whom he doesn't even know, and so on.

But while you know the public face of the man, you still struggle to understand what makes him tick and get that emotional connect with the character. You follow him because the movie wants you to follow him. You don't follow him because you know how he is around people or how he is in his personal space, apart from the miserly nuggets that it offers.

Take his first marriage to Chellamma (Priyamani, with her younger self played by an aptly cast Sheela Rajkumar), for example. Chellamma goes out of his life because she thinks she would be a hindrance to his growth and asks him to marry a younger girl.

Why she thinks so, we may never know, for the next moment we already see Naidu marrying Ranganayaki (Dushara Vijayan), in a scene that reminded me of Saket Ram going for the bride visit in Hey! Ram, and being shocked that his family has found a younger girl for him.

Well, at least Saket Ram knew who he was marrying before the wedding. Here, we have to believe Naidu agreed to marry a girl without even knowing her age or what she looked like. Ranganayaki is, of course, shown as the unconditional beacon of support in his life, and even when she finally revolts, it isn't hard to see what her actual intention is because her anger comes out of nowhere.

For the film never really dives into how it feels to be married to a man who is married to his work to make her annoyance with him believable.

It is not just a Ranganayaki problem; everyone in the movie does things that totally revolve around Naidu, with no agency of their own. Including Ramaiah Pillai (Sathyaraj), Naidu's faithful associate and self-appointed troller of government employees.

BTW, neither Chellamma nor the kids he have with her ever appear in the movie after that scene.

Conflict and Resolution

Leading the hate brigade against Naidu is a British diplomat, Henry Adams (Carl Andrew Harte), egged on by a jealous industrialist, Bhupendar (Vinay Rai). Henry manipulates Naidu's documents and sends Ambalapara Krishnan (Jayaram), a duty-bound income tax officer determined to retrieve the penalties from Naidu, who refuses to pay them.

So the rest of the film is driven by this rivalry between Naidu and Krishnan, the latter being aided by Perunkili (Karunakaran), an acolyte of Henry and Bhupendar. We see them impose a tax penalty or raid on Naidu and his properties, we see him get out of the complication or rise somewhere else, we see them do so again, even after India gained independence and, well, you know where this is heading.

The repetitive nature of this screenplay does little justice to what is a remarkable story if told the right way. It even gets preachy at times, particularly in its constant reminder of how the nation let down the great man, and how that might have stunted the nation's progress.

Near the end, when a character asks Naidu why he didn't just pay the fine, he goes on this passionate speech that goes centuries back, about how our culture is great, how invaders ruined it and how that gave rise to religious and caste discrimination. How a future generation would reject all these biases to make a great nation.

It feels less like a speech made by a visionary and more like something written for a WhatsApp forward you find in the uncles' group. Well, the way the film documents Naidu's life also has this similar approach, so why not end it that way?

Even the passage of time is confusingly executed. Naidu's story begins during World War I, but when we finally meet his more mature self (when played by Madhavan), the English are once again speaking of an ongoing war with Germany.

It is much later that we officially see the commencement of World War II, with Naidu getting trapped in Nazi Germany, though his escape is frustratingly told rather than shown. As we watch the progress of his life, it is constantly unclear whether we are seeing days, months, or entire years pass by.

Performances and Production Highlights

What works for GDN is the detailing that has gone into recreating the era, particularly Naidu's inventions and the transport of the time. Also an asset to the film is Govinda Vasanta's background score. I particularly liked the theme music he gave Naidu. Some of the casting also works for its benefit.

Sathyaraj is likeable as Pillai, while Dushara Vijayan gives a good account of herself despite the constrictive writing around her character.

Jayaram also manages to stand out as the sort of antagonist to Naidu's progress, making Krishnan's intentions believable. Priyamani, Karunakaran, Vinay Rai, Thambi Ramaiah, Aditi Balan and Ramesh Thilak do their parts as required within their limited screen time.

Of course, the most impressive of the lot is the leading man himself, who has good justice in showing Naidu's acumen consistently across all ages (his styling also deserves a special mention). The one chink in his armour is his writing. Madhavan needs to skip the docudrama feel that plagues his biopic screenplays.

GDN has a remarkable story at its core and a terrific Madhavan at its centre, but this repetitive, textbook-style treatment keeps the genius of G D Naidu at a frustrating emotional distance.