The upcoming GD Naidu biopic, titled GDN, carries the tagline, “Feared by the British. Forgotten by his countrymen.” Even though history has forgotten a great number of extraordinary individuals, director Krishnakumar Ramakumar says it was particularly fascinating how we had forgotten to celebrate GD Naidu, considering his incredible life journey. Taking us back to his thoughts while researching for the film, Krishnakumar shares, “What surprised me the most was how he is a man of multiple disciplines despite dropping out of school after third standard. He was an innovator, philanthropist, entrepreneur, agriculturist, and he was setting up educational institutions. He went to a homeopathy conference in Germany to talk about Siddha. You have to understand that he did all of that during a time when access to information was very low.”

Research on the colourful life of GD Naidu was exhaustive to a point where Krishnakumar jokes about not wanting to work on a biopic again. “Most of my fatigue comes from having to let go of certain aspects of an incredibly rich and layered story,” says Krishnakumar, as he addresses Periyar's relationship with GD Naidu in the film. “Periyar and GD Naidu were wonderful friends. And their relationship was beyond politics. Periyar’s respect for GD Naidu’s skills and how their friendship helped contribute to societal reforms is a subject on its own. GD Naidu even gifted a Chevrolet caravan to Periyar for his campaigning. You can do an entire web series on that topic, but this film isn’t about that. And yet, we recognise that we cannot tell GDN’s story without Periyar, so it is a small part of the film; limiting his portions was challenging,” shares the director.

Conscious not to spoil too much, Krishnakumar reveals that even though GD Naidu is primarily known for his innovations, the film focuses on a different aspect of the man. Speaking about the inspiration behind the film, the director says, “GD Naidu’s son, GD Gopal, collaborated with author Sivasankari for a book about his father, titled Appa. I had read the book, but I also met and spoke to GD Gopal and their family as well. Their narration and recollections about GD Naidu were the primary influence for this film.” While the film charts the extraordinary journey of GD Naidu, including his friction with the British, the Nazi’s, and dealing with internal politics, Krishnakumar’s favourite aspect of the innovator was how he was in touch with his interiority. “He used to write journals about his day-to-day thoughts, insights, and ideas for innovations. I got the privilege of browsing through his diaries, and what I found interesting was that he wrote them with utmost honesty. GD Naidu’s incredible personality stems from his honesty about himself.”

In his pursuit to understand the man, Krishnakumar believes that what made GD Naidu an incredible personality was how he dealt with obstacles, whether it was a simple engineering obstacle or a government obstacle.  Expanding on his understanding of GD Naidu’s philosophy, Krishnakumar says, “GD Naidu made India’s first indigenous motor. If you think about how he did that, he must have bought it from another country, had the skill set to take it apart and learn from it without academic knowledge. And then he had the idea to make it accessible and affordable to his countrymen. A rich man can get anything he wants, and making things for rich people is easy. But GD Naidu was the kind of man who was constantly finding ways to make sure the common people of his country had access to advanced technologies of the time. Our farmers benefited a lot from his affordable innovations. Given another chance, I would like to make another film about his innovations alone. GDN is not about that side of him; this is about another interesting aspect. We want to show that GD Naidu is more than just his innovations.”

Apart from the life of GD Naidu, the biggest influence on Krishnakumar’s filmmaking approach comes from his very own leading man, Madhavan. “Maddy sir is an enthusiastic storyteller, and he loves storytelling. When I narrated GDN, he found a story in it rather than looking at it as just a biopic. I was looking at this film through a unidimensional lens. For example, if there was an angry character, Maddy sir would ask me to look at that particular character beyond his anger. “Don’t let anger be his only defining characteristic; find the moments that made him laugh and cry, look at him as a human,’ he would say." Krishnakumar then adds with a laugh, “He really showed me the difference between three films and three decades in the film industry.”