Nanban, is a much awaited film by all circles for a few reasons. First, its the coming together of Vijay and director S.Shankar for a film. Second, its the remake of 3 Idiots which is one of the biggest blockbusters in Indian cinema history and considered a classic. Third, its a multi-starrer film and the final reason is for having the top technicians of the industry involved in this film. Many film enthusiasts were eager to catch this film in theaters to see how the remake was done and that too by S.Shankar, who is handling a remake subject for the first time in his career. Did the movie live up to its original or falter in the heavy expectations?
The best aspect of Nanban is the near-perfect casting. Vijay as Panchavan Parivendhan, was a throwback to his earlier cinema career. His commitment to the character is unquestionable and he delivers exactly what was expected of him. He didn't imitate what Aamir Khan did in the original and kept his own style of dialogue delivery and expressions. Its been ages since he did such a role of the quiet, charming guy who can win hearts with his mellow and restrained performance. Srikanth is a revelation and this movie is a proof that he has indeed matured into a fine actor. As the narrator of the plot, his dialogue delivery and dubbing was essential in capturing the attention of the audiences, and he did it neatly without copying any mannerisms of R.Madhavan. Besides that, he scored in the emotional scene which takes place between his character and the father. Jiiva shows his great acting capabilities with very good comedy timing and dialogue delivery and also for scoring in emotional scenes. He pulled it off with ease and his confidence in enacting the roll is obvious throughout the film and is on par as Sharman Joshi. Veteran Sathyaraj had a once-in-a-lifetime kind of role here as the dictatorial and ruthless principal shows that experience does matter in pulling of great roles. Its a welcome relief to see him not to imitate the fantastic Boman Irani but could have avoided following the same type of dialogue delivery style as Boman's and incorporated his own style, which could have given a new dimension to that character. Sathyan delivered a comical role very well and his interpretation of the character was different from Omi Vaidya as his was more loud and full of expressions. The best of his was definitely the speech giving scene, which was a scream! All the other male artistes like Manobala, SJ Suryah, Vijay Vasanth, Shanmugasundaram, Indrans, Ajay Rathnam and etc were apt for their roles. As for the female roles, its wonderful to see Ileana D'Cruz back in Tamizh cinema after 6 long years! The experience of appearing in multiple Telugu films is evident in her confident manner of acting and she got her pronunciations nearly perfect with the dubbing of Andrea Jeremiah for her. Not only performance, she does sizzle in song sequences as well. Anuya Bhagat was neat as the pregnant sister of Ileana and Deepa Venkat's dubbing for her was very much in sync.
Technically the film is rich with top class technicians involved. Pritam and Resul Pookutty's audiography was creative with various sound sequences used, especially in songs and climax portions. Kunal, Deepali Noor and Sai's costumes were colorful especially for Ileana in the "Asku Laska" & "Irukaana" numbers, though they could have experimented more with Vijay's costumes and look, which was rather plain and simple compared to the stylish and cute Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots. Anthony's editing was fine, though he could have trimmed few minutes of certain sequences to shorten the duration of the film and his work in "Asku Laska" song was high in quality. T.Muthuraj's art work was apt as all the props used in the film was natural especially for the university sequences and also for the detailing done in the house interiors of each character was very good. Besides that, its applaudable to erect detailed sets in a very small area for the "Irukaana" number. Manoj Paramahamsa once again proves why he is one of the best in the industry among cinematographers. His shots were a pleasant sight for the eyes especially in the "En Friend eh Pola" and "Asku Laska" numbers and also for the soft, natural lighting he used in the university sequences. Besides that Gemini Industries & Imaging's work done on the uncompressed 4k real-time on Quantel Pablo DI (Digital Intermediate) system gives the film a fantastic picture clarity with 4K digital resolution.
Harris Jeyaraj's music was melodious all through and there were no racy numbers in the album with the whole album complementing the mood and feel of the film. "En Friend Pola" number was picturized in montages with a road-concept as similar to the opening song in 3 Idiots. The picturesque hill stations were wonderfully captured by Manoj with long shots and post-card style frames. "Heartiley Battery" number is the equivalent of the extremely popular "Aal Izz Well" number of 3 Idiots. Though its less peppy and energetic as the original song, it still enthuses mild energy and was well picturized with good choreography by Shobi and cute ideas such as the 'Vadai' element and etc with the whole song taking place in cool university surroundings. "Asku Laska" had a cute sequences in between where the camera panned from the production crew and straight into the song which was a surprise for the viewers. The top angle and close up shots in the song helped the song look rich, especially in the glass set. "Nalla Nanban" is a situational song which was shot with montages which had a mishmash of cute and emotional scenes. "Irukaana" is a song dedicated to the svelte physique of Ileana and is a typical S.Shankar film song with elaborate and intricate and colorful set works which also has dozens of dancers. The camerawork is commendable as it involves a tight space and Manoj has captured the splendor and grandeur of the set work for this song, well. Besides that, the choreography of Farah Khan was catchy, too. "Endhan Kann Munnae" is the pathos song which was picturized on the sadness of Vijay Vasanth's character. It had good lighting work to show the night effect feel. Though Harris' work was neat in the songs department, his background score could have been much better as the re-recording was too melodious which gives a sentimental feel for certain scenes which could have been avoided. The usage of silence in certain scenes would have elevated the feel and intensity of those scenes.
For film enthusiasts, this movie might be a little disappointment because it was just a scene-by-scene remake and there were not much differences in the screenplay of the original 3 Idiots written by Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, which was based on Chetan Bhagat's novel "Five Point Someone - What not to do at IIT". As a grand filmmaker himself, S.Shankar could have tried to infuse new and fresh elements into the film instead of remaking all scenes one by one but he can be excused since the original screenplay and script is a classic and it can be very risky to experiment with. Dialogues by S.Shankar and Madhan Karky was fantastic and very quirky and intelligent but at the same time, heart-warming. The speech dialogue spoken by Sathyan was absolutely hilarious and kudos to both Shankar and Karky for giving extra intuitive attention for comedy portions as well. The whole film carries breeziness, intelligence and emotions all into the right proportions which is a winning factor for the film crew.
Nanban did live up to its original and the remake was done in a very neat and proper manner with no mistakes or blunder made. Whether the original was much better, or the remake is a finer product, is something which should be left to each individuals as it is a matter of personal preferences. Final verdict: Nanban - All is Well, indeed.
Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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