New Delhi: The makers of R Madhavan’s upcoming film GDN released a new poster for the biographical drama on Thursday.
The poster, shared on Instagram, shows Madhavan as inventor-industrialist GD Naidu from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, standing before a crowd with folded hands, and carries the line: “Feared by the British… Forgotten by his countrymen.” The caption described the film as being “inspired by the extraordinary journey of G.D. Naidu.”
Written and directed by Krishnakumar Ramakumar, GDN is being made as a multilingual film, which will be released in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi on 17 July. It is produced by Varghese Moolan Pictures and Tricolour Films. The cast includes Sathyaraj, Jayaram, Priyamani, Dushara Vijayan, Thambi Ramaiah, Vinay Rai, and Yogi Babu. Music is by Govind Vasantha.
The film’s first-look teaser came out in October 2025, showing Madhavan in a transformed look as Naidu. The shooting wrapped up in December last year, with producer Vijay Moolan posting pictures with the cast and crew on Instagram. The film was shot in Coimbatore, Naidu’s birthplace, according to The Hollywood Reporter India.
After playing ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect (2022) and intelligence officer Ajay Sanyal in Dhurandhar, Madhavan is now taking on a part drawn from real-life history and national institutions.
But for many outside Tamil Nadu, Naidu’s name is still not immediately familiar.
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Life and works
Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu was born on 23 March 1893 near Coimbatore and died on 4 January 1974. He had only primary education, but went on to become an inventor, engineer, and industrialist whose work spanned electrical, mechanical, automobile, and agricultural engineering. He is widely remembered as the “Edison of India” and is credited with manufacturing India’s first electric motor.
Naidu’s interest in machines began early. Accounts of his life say he bought a motorcycle, dismantled and reassembled it, and later became a mechanic. In 1920, he began a transport business after buying an automobile coach and driving it between Pollachi and Palani. His Universal Motor Service later became an important public transport operation in the region.
In 1937, Naidu developed India’s first indigenous motor along with D Balasundaram Naidu. The success of that motor later fed into the city’s industrial growth, including the founding of Textool by Balasundaram and, later, Lakshmi Machine Works.
His inventions and experiments ranged from the Rasant electric razor and super-thin shaving blades to a distance adjuster for film cameras, a fruit juice extractor, a tamper-proof vote-recording machine, and a fan that runs on kerosene. In 1952, he also rolled out a two-seater petrol engine car, but its production was stopped after the government did not grant the necessary licence.
Naidu’s work was not limited to machines. He also experimented with agriculture, including new varieties of cotton, maize, and papaya. His career placed him at the centre of Coimbatore’s industrial story, long before the city became widely associated with engineering, manufacturing, and motors.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)