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3 min readHyderabadMay 21, 2026 10:07 PM IST
R. Madhavan as G.D. Naidu in the first look of GDN, directed by Krishnakumar Ramakumar
He dropped out of school in the third standard, started life as a bus cleaner, and went on to manufacture India’s first electric motor, build a prototype car, and earn the title “Edison of India” from the scientific community of his time. His name was Gopalaswamy Doraiswamy Naidu aka GD Naidu. For decades, his story has been one of the most consequential in Indian industrial history that mainstream cinema never told. On July 17, R Madhavan will change that.
The makers of GDN, the biographical drama inspired by the life of GD Naidu, announced its worldwide release date on Thursday with a first poster that distilled its subject into three words: Vision. Innovation. Legacy. The film releases in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
GDN is directed by Krishnakumar Ramakumar, best known for the Tamil film Oho Enthan Baby, and produced by Varghese Moolan and Vijay Moolan of Varghese Moolan Pictures, alongside R. Madhavan and his wife Sarita Madhavan under their banner Tricolour Films. The film was shot entirely in Coimbatore, the city where GD Naidu built his life and his legacy, in a deliberate effort to ground the visual texture of the story in the place that shaped it.
The ensemble cast alongside Madhavan includes Sathyaraj, Jayaram, Priyamani, Dushara Vijayan, Thambi Ramaiah, Vinay Rai and Yogi Babu. Aravind Kamalanathan serves as cinematographer and creative producer.
GD Naidu was born in 1893 in Kalangal village near Coimbatore, into a modest farming family. Formal education held little appeal for him. What held his attention was machinery, how it was built, how it failed, and how it could be improved.
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Naidu started a public transport service between Pollachi and Palani in 1920 with a single vehicle, which grew into Universal Motor Service, one of South India’s most efficient bus operations of its time. In 1937, his factory National Electric Works manufactured India’s first electric motor, a landmark that placed him among the country’s most consequential industrial pioneers. He went on to develop agricultural machinery, automobile components, and a two-seater petrol car that was produced and then halted when the government declined to grant the necessary licence for full-scale manufacturing.
His legacy lives on in the G.D. Naidu Science Museum and Industrial Exhibition in Coimbatore, established in 1967. Tamil Nadu’s longest bridge also bears his name.
GDN releases worldwide on July 17.
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