Ten years of Nanban: Interesting facts about the film

Nanban, the coming-of-age-comedy-drama, directed by Shankar, had Vijay, Jiiva, Srikanth, Ileana D'Cruz, Sathyaraj and Sathyan, in crucial roles. While music for the film was by Harris Jayaraj, cinematography was by Manoj Paramahamsa and editing by Anthony. The audio launch of the film was grand affair held in Coimbatore. Nanban was produced by Gemini Film Circuit and was even screened at the Melbourne Film Festival. The film hit screens on January 12, 2012 and completes ten years since release.

Nanban is a remake of the Bollywood hit Rajkumar Hirani's 3 Idiots, which in turn, was an adapation of Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone - What not to do at IIT! The original had Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani and Omi Vaidya. The film also got a Mexican remake which was titled 3 Idiotas. While the scientist character was based on innovator and education Sonam Wangchuk, in the Tamil version the name was altered to Kosaksi Pasapugazh and was played by Vijay.

The film marked the second collaboration of Harris Jayaraj and Shankar after Anniyan. This was also Vijay's first outing with Harris Jayaraj. The album featured six songs, including En Frienda Pola, Heartile Battery, Asku Laska, Enthan Kan Munne,Irukana and Nalla Nanban. Lyrics for the songs were by Pa Vijay, Viveka, Na Muthukumar and Madhan Karky.

The producers of the film are said to have approached popular film directors to helm the film before zeroing in on director Shankar. Until then, Shankar had made only original scripts. With this film, Shankar decided to break the rule and went on to do his first remake as he was quite impressed by the Hindi version of the film.

Ileana D' Cruz, who made her Tamil debut with director Jyothi Krishna's Kedi, made her comeback with Nanban. She cast an impression with her screen persona and acting prowess. Her dance number Asku Laska opposite Vijay was a chartbuster. The song was sung Vijay Prakash, Chinmayi and Suvi. The Telugu version Snehitudu was also released. However, Ileana didn't appear in any Tamil film after that.