A. M. Nandakumar is an Indian film director and screenwriter who has worked on Tamil films. He made his debut with the 2003 action drama film, Thennavan starring Vijaykanth and Kiran Rathod. Career After working as an assistant director for several years to P. Vasu and Manivannan, Nandakumar successfully pitched the story of Kodiesvaran to producer K. T. Kunjumon. After initially considering either Vijay or Ajith Kumar for the lead role, the team went ahead with the producer's son, Eby Kunjumon. The film started production in 1997 with Eby appearing alongside Simran, with Hindi actress Karisma Kapoor making a guest appearance in an item number. The film's music album and trailer were released in early 1999, but Kunjumon's financial troubles meant that the film failed to have a theatrical release. If released, the film would have been among the highest budgeted films of the time. As the film became stuck, Nandakumar worked on a Japanese film titled Dancing with Ninja shot in Chennai. Nandakumar moved on and worked on another script titled Aasan. He approached Vijayakanth to work on the film, but during the narration, it became clear that the script had been already pitched to the actor as Ramana by AR Murugadoss. Following the confusion, Vijayakanth apologetically called Nandakumar to make another film with him titled Thennavan (2003). The film opened to mixed reviews, with a critic from The Hindu noting "Thennavan would have been a tailor made story for Vijayakanth but for the flawed script, clichéd dialogue and unappealing caricatures. Somewhere down the line everyone from the director (M. Nandakumaran) and the hero seem to have lost interest." Nandakumar announced Jambhavan (2006) in December 2005 and began production shortly after a launch event held in Tirupathi. Prashanth was signed to play the lead role, while Nila and Meghna Naidu were signed to portray the film's lead heroines. The team began shoot with a thirty-day schedule in Tenkasi in Southern Tamil Nadu. The making of the film was disrupted in January 2006, when actress Nila briefly walked out of the film after falling out with the producers. The film opened in September 2006 and received predominantly negative reviews. A critic from Sify.com noted "this film is a slapdash enterprise that will make you groan", adding "it caters strictly to B and C class audiences and leaves you cold". Another reviewer noted the similarity to Baashha (1995) adding "the quality