ETHIR NEECHAL MOVIE REVIEW

One of the most eagerly spoken about films, is this Dhanush produced 'Ethir Neechal, starring the upcoming hot-shot Sivakarthikeyan and a host of youngsters. Sivakarthikeyan has been notching up the ratings, due to his immense reach, attained during his television days. And the extra USP of having Anirudh as the music director, who dished out chart-busters, once again. It looks like the season of Vetrimaaran's former assistants, coming up with their own directorial ventures, and R.S Durai Senthilkumar joins the fray as well, through 'Ethir Neechal'.

This protagonist role of 'Ethir Neechal' is a tailor-made role for Sivakarthikeyan, who excels in his comic timing. Not just in his dialogue deliveries, but also through facial expressions and body language, which are signs of very good improvement ! He's not bad in the emotional scenes as well, but it was still not good enough to rate his full capability in the acting quotient. Priya Anand breezed through her role as the beautiful girl-next-door teacher. Nandita of 'Attakathi' fame has a more stronger role, but a brief one though, yet she still makes a mark. Satish, as the sidekick of Sivakarthikeyan, was a scream with his in-your-face one-liners and is delight to watch in his combination scenes with Sivakarthikeyan. The next hit-pair ? Most probably ! Jayaprakash and Ravi Prakash, handled their roles very diligently. The rest of the cast such as Suza Kumar, Swaminathan, Manobala, Aarthi, Madan Bob and a cute cameo by 'Attakathi' Dinesh were adequate.

The film carries very neat and crisp technical works from the crew. Anu Parthasarathy's costume designing for Priya Anand was brilliant and Priya was looking gorgeous indeed ! 'Mirattal' Siva's action choreography was functional. G.Durairaj's art direction was very good, as he has maintained high production value, with an obviously low budget. There are plenty of locations in the film such as tailor shop, classrooms, training room, offices and the final marathon sequence, were all well neatly brought out, with the necessary props. G.Durairaj is turning into a  favorite among the medium budget producers ! Kishore T.E's editing was flawless, as he keeps the film crisp and the flow of the screenplay, in check. R.Velraj's cinematography is dripping in quality, with apt camera positioning and framing. His camera movement is slick, the cool ambiance was a fine touch and his lighting for the dimly-lit sequences, were brilliant as usual ! Also, R.Velraj camera angles in tight spaces, worked out well for the necessary scenes.

Anirudh Ravichander's music, as mentioned earlier, was brilliant and peppy. The sort of attention-grabbing genre for the youth. "Nijamellam" has Sivakarthikeyan trying to woo Suza Kumar and has cool picturization from R.Velraj. The narrow alleys, wide beach section, crowded bus interiors, were all shot in montages. "Boomi Ennai" was pictured on Sivakarthikeyan falling for Priya Anand and is a another typical dance number with plenty of locations and crisp editing. "Velicha Poove" was the best shot song, in the postcard-worthy locations of Andaman and Nicobar. The camera movement and angles were very good and accentuated the lovely mood of the song, shot on Sivakarthikeyan and the Priya Anand, who was looking gorgeous to the tilt ! "Local Boys" was a super-fast number shot on a bar atmosphere, with plenty of props. The highlight of the song though was the cameo appearances by Dhanush, the classy Nayanthara and also by Anirudh himself ! The title track of "Ethir Neechal" was shot on Sivakarthikeyan and Nandita and has montages of the protagonist going through intensive training for the penultimate marathon episode. "Un Paarvaiyil" was a situational song shot on Sivakarthikeyan setting his sights on Priya Anand for the first time. Anirudh rocks in the background score department as well, with good touches of rock and melody elements. Being an ardent A.R Rahman fan, the background score does have some moments, which were obvious inspirations from A.R Rahman !

R.S Durai Senthilkumar's script, was very simple and straight-forwardly written. There director plays no hanky-panky in the screenplay. The love scenes were cute and amusing, the comedy portions were humorous, thanks to the witty one-liners and the emotional sequences were just nice and was not overtly melodramatic. The debutante director, has extracted exactly what was needed from his cast and his vision of his script, is full of clarity. A subtle message is woven into the screenplay, without being too preachy and obvious. The only downside of the film is that, it might not satisfy all section of audience, as its low in content. The film is not particularly racy, though its commendable that they have kept the length of the film, short. The transition from comedy to seriousness, from the first to second half, was rather formulaic, but the director can be excused, as he has come up with a neat entertainer.

'Ethir Neechal' - delivered nothing more and nothing less than promised. A clean entertainer !


Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL