Long in the making and after quite an delay, newbie Venkatesan.R's debut, 'Nalanum Nandhiniyum' has officially released. A former associate of Venkat Prabhu, Venkatesan.R's story is a countryside-based family entertainer, with the hero and heroine being the central theme. Can Venkatesan.R, make Venkat Prabhu proud ?
Playing protagonist is debutante Michael Thangadurai of Vijay TV's 'Jodi No.1' reality dance program fame. Since dance is his forte, he doesn't seem to have any problem performing in songs, but when it comes to acting, he is no where near being good enough to hold the attention of the audience. He lacks the screen presence and does not show much variations in his emoting, especially in emotionally charged scenes. Meanwhile, Nandita has done a good job with her role and looks completely at ease in performing. She suits the role to a T, and shows good promise. The film has a host of character artistes such as Jayaprakash, Azhagam Perumal, Renuka, Soundara Rajan, Soori, Chaams, Madhumitha, Rinson Simon, Janaki, Rekha Suresh and etc, who have limited screen timing, with roles of unimportance.
Costume designing is by Sivakumar and Santhosh Kumar, and their work was apt for the necessity of the script. The costume designers have kept in mind of the characters, sociological background and comes up with a clean work. B.Thyagarajan's action choreography is functional and Gopi Anand's art direction, sufficed the needs of the script. His properties for the middle-class home setting and also for the rural background, was good. I.J Alen's editing was simple and plain but not flawless. The cuts for the flashback was jerky and could have been much better. Nizar Shafi's cinematography is pretty much functional, but his lighting gave the film a better look, throughout the entire duration.
Musical score is done by newbie Ashwath Naganathan and shows some promise. But the unnecessary number of bit songs in the film, kills the magic of the original full-length songs. "Sivagangai Cheemai" is an introductory song for the characters of the film, and has montages of all the character artistes involved. "Gummunu Varuguthu" is a typical village festival dance number and has good lighting work by Nizar and Michael shows his prowess and comfort in dance, with this folk number. "Thoongama" is a pathos song, shot on the lead pair and presented in montages, which has some good scenic views of Erode. "Vaadagai Koodu" is a duet song, shot on the lead pair and has a middle-class home as its setting and once again Nizar's framing gives the song a good picturization. "Kodi Neeyadi" is situational bit song, and "Sala Sala" is the final song of the film which depicted a film shooting process, throughout. Ashwath's background score is not bad, but he should avoid inserting bit songs, which impedes the flow of the screenplay.
Director Venkatesan.R's intention of delivering a neat and clean family film, deserves appreciation, but his execution falls flat, especially with the screenplay. The film's dramatic moments and episodes are all too cliched for contemporary Tamizh cinema, though they are not overtly melodramatic. It somewhat reminds us of the Tamizh serials being aired in Tamizh satellite channels. There are too many characters in the film, and most of them are not given proper importance nor any good scenes to act, especially when you have top notch artistes like Jayaprakash, Azhagam Perumal and Renuka. The director's film scenes fail to invoke any sympathy nor empathy from the audience, and the plot too doesn't keep us glued to our seats, due to the predictable nature of it.
'Nalanum Nandhiniyum' - Good attempt but too old-fashioned for contemporary standards.
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
After a year's absence, Radha Mohan makes his return with a bilingual, which has been produced by none other than his best buddy, Prakash Raj. The director is known for his sensitive and clean scripts such as 'Azhagiya Theeye' and 'Mozhi'. This time though, he has chosen a rather controversial but topical theme of honor killing, as his base, for his story. Working with debutantes, can Radha Mohan deliver another winner, without any hitches ?
Allu Sirish, the younger brother of Telugu star Allu Arjun, makes his debut as a hero, through 'Gouravam'. Though its not fair enough to compare him with his more illustrious older brother, Allu Sirish, is miles behind from being recognized as an actor ! He tries earnestly to perform, but sadly his expressions, body language and dance & stunt performances were contrived, rather than natural. He looks too stiff and rigid and the sense of awareness of the camera, is clearly visible for the audience. Yami Gautham, who made a splash in Bollywood with 'Vicky Donor' makes her debut in Tamizh. She looks good and performs neatly, but she does look out of place and is a miscast, sort of. Also, her role was pretty weak and was way too stereotypical. Elango Kumaravael and Sricharan were the better of the supporting casts and there's a big group of artistes, including seasoned-veterans and newcomers such as Prakash Raj, Nassar (who was completely wasted), L.B Sriram, Harish, Anupama Kumar, Brahmaji, Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli, Swaminathan, Muthukaalai, Pavithraa Lokesh and etc, who were adequate. But kudos to the acting crew, for getting their lip-sync spot on, especially by the lead pair, who's dubbing was taken care off by Vasu and Mahalakshmi.
The technical crew has put in an average work, into the film. S.S Vasu's costume designing was spot on, especially for differentiating the various classes of castes in a village and also for the pretty dresses of Yami Gautham. Silva's stunt choreography was just nice, especially the one done in an orchard. K.Kadhirr's art direction was simple but neat, especially the tightly erected village houses, and the aftermath of a riot set-up in the village. The interiors of the houses, were well done, in detailing. I.J Alen's editing was not bad, though he could have spotted some obvious mistakes in the film, and trim them out of the narrative. Preetha's cinematography was quite ordinary, but appreciation for her work on the stunt sequence, shot in an orchard.
S.S Thaman's musical score, goes along with the script, and complements the story and style of presentation of the film. "Oru Graamam" is a situational song, used twice in the film, which has montages of flashbacks, presented in quick-cuts. "Mannadhachu Panthu" is a well written song by Madhan Karky, which was shot on dancers and the lead characters, with the backdrops of villages, hill-top, lakeside and etc. "Ondraai Ondraai" is an 'youth-anthem' sort of, with the dancers and extras, along with the lead artistes, dressed in denims and khakis. The locations were mostly within the village surroundings, with barren lands, and plantations, as well as quarry locations. "Maname Maname" song was only used as a background score in the film. As the same with the song, Thaman's background score too, was complementing the script, quite well.
Radha Mohan, who is aided by his close associate Viji, in the dialogues department, is known for his cute and charming story narration and sequences, interwoven into the script. 'Gouravam', is an antithesis of that elements though, where the film is just full of melodrama and outdated scenarios. Viji sparkles intermittently, especially for the humor-laced dialogues which were cheeky, but sadly the rest of them is too mundane and boring. There's no freshness in the presentation, with plenty of outdated shot compositions, being implemented ! There were unwarranted lecturing and explanations, throughout the film, which makes the proceeding to bore, for the audience. The story development was very cliched as well, and its appalling to notice Radha Mohan's film to have many silly mistakes and loop-holes littered, here and there. The film moves in a very casual-pace and only picks up some kind of momentum, late in the second half.
'Gouravam' is a decent film, with low engagement factors ! It is certainly nowhere near the league of 'Mozhi'.
Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
