NIMIRNTHU NIL MOVIE REVIEW

P.Samuthirakani is back as director after 'Porali' which was released 3 years back. Known for his powerful dialogues and social messages, he has collaborated with a team of stars beyond his usual circles for 'Nimirnthu Nil'. 'Jayam' Ravi who's last was the poorly received 'Aadhi Baghawan' badly needs a hit to sustain his stature in Tamizh cinema. Produced by Vaasan Visual Ventures, can P.Samuthirakani and 'Jayam' Ravi strike a clean success ?

'Jayam' Ravi, who donned double roles in his last flick, ironically does the same with 'Nimirnthu Nil' as well. Though the roles are lesser challenging and brooding than the one's in 'Aadhi Bhagawan', but still 'Jayam' Ravi makes the most of his opportunities and came out with a decent performance. As Aravindan Sivasamy, Ravi sort of impersonated the naive and rule-abiding "Rules" Ramanujam of 'Anniyan'. The shocked reaction which he occasionally displays, is a little overboard, though. His dialogue delivery, especially after the changeover shown in the film, packs a few punch. There were more variations in his expressions, especially in the second half, delivered convincingly. Whereas as Narasimha Reddy, we get to see a more flamboyant and joyous Ravi, and he shows his prowess in handling various languages at ease. Amala Paul, looking very cute and petite, has a very limited and substantial role, but fits her role well and aptly dubbed by Raveena Ravi. Soori gets to be more than a comedian here yet kudos to him for his well-timed dialogues and voice modulation. Vijay TV fame, C.Gopinath plays a very important role and he impresses in his sequences. There's an overabundance of casting crew in this film, from the likes of Anil Murali, Nassar, Prof.Gnanasambandham, Namo Narayana, Chitra Lakshmanan, Thambi Ramaiah, Subbu Panchu, Badava Gopi, 'Munnar' Ramesh, Gnanavel, G.Marimuthu, Dhilepan, K.K.P Gobalakrishnan, Kanthasamy, V.K Vijayakumar, Sriranjini, Rithika, Latha Rao, debutante Ragini Dwivedi from the Kannada cine industry and etc who made their marks. Also, we had Sarath Kumar making a 20 minute cameo appearance. We also have M.Sasikumar giving a voice-over in a scene !

Costume designing by Priya Manikandan and Karishma Sharoff was good, especially with 'Jayam' Ravi's looks for both characters and also for the homely, contemporary costumes for Amala Paul, which made her look beautiful. Jacki's art direction sufficed the needs of the script. His works behind the properties of the protagonist's post apartment, the police station set, the secret hideout offices, the television station setup and etc are commendable works from Jacki. A.L Ramesh's editing was passable, though he could have trimmed the second half and also a little of the first half and his cuts could have been smooth. 'Stun' Siva's action choreography was "over" over-the-top, especially with the Bangalore highway sequence. Farcical, at its best ! M.Sukumar and M.Jeevan handles the cinematography department, and they have done a decent job, especially with the combination sequences of both the double characters played by 'Jayam' Ravi. The lighting for the indoor sequences were natural though the highway action sequence, could have been handled better. Especially, with the VFX's teams tacky final output.

G.V Prakash Kumar scores for P.Samuthirakani's film for the first time and to put it frankly, the songs have turned out to be quite average for their standards. "Kadhal Nergaiyil" is a slow melody and shot with montage on the lead pair, with some cute and funny moments featuring in the song, especially with the contradicting characteristics of the lead pair. "Gita Verses" is a situational song, with some sequences interspersing in between the song. Though it fits the situation well, the score tends out to be too loud at certain places. The pick of the album, "Negizhiyinil" was shot in the beautiful locations of Athirapally waterfalls and the Bekal Fort. The cinematographer has handled some interesting angles and camera movements for this song, with apt framing for some shots. "Rajadhi Raja" is the opening song of 'Jayam' Ravi's second character and also featured Ragini Dwivedi in a glam makeover. The song looked like a typical village or rural celebratory song, with plenty of village props and colorfully attired dancers. "Don't Worry" featured 'Jayam' Ravi with the host of character artistes appearing in the song, which had a party-like atmosphere to it and also 'Gaana' Bala's cameo appearance. The background score by G.V Prakash Kumar and additional outputs from C.Himesh Babu, sufficed the mood of the script, though its not the best of works from him.

As always as it is with P.Samuthirakani's films, 'Nimirnthu Nil' too has plenty of social issues tackled with a few messages delivered in atypical Samuthirakani dialogues. But the problem is, it gets way too preachy in this script, especially in the second half, which lessens the entertainment value. Also, we get a sense of déjà vu because of the similarity in the vigilante-style story, which is synonymous with Shankar films and bears a resemblance to a host of other popular flicks such as A.R Murugadoss's 'Ramana' and Saravanan Subbiah's 'Citizen'. Besides that, the element of logic taking a backseat, in a very pretentious manner, is a turn-off for sure, especially when you consider the factor of the film coming from P.Samuthirakani's stable. Nevertheless, the social issues and messages delivered in the film is thought-provoking, aided by some power-packed dialogues, albeit with an overdose of melodrama. But its unfathomable to digest the fact that Samuthirakani, has succumbed to the pressures of thrusting needless commercial elements into his script. What could and should have been an gripping encounter such as 'Nadodigal', peters out into an average product. Its about time for P.Samuthirakani to realize that powerful dialogues and social messages, blended along with a mass "masala" concoction alone, will not guarantee a great end-product !

'Nimirnthu Nil' - With a meekly written screenplay, that's quite an arduous task to do !


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL