THIRUMANAM ENUM NIKKAH MOVIE REVIEW

'Thirumanam Enum Nikkah' has been lying in the cans for quite sometime and finally, Aascar V.Ravichandran's production has released. Directed by debutante Anis, this was suppose to be the debut venture of Nazriya Nazim, though her other ventures managed to release earlier. A film touted to be on the lines of 'Monsoon Wedding', did Anis come up with a decent product ?

Jai was in his usual elements and he fits such lightweight roles. If you are a Tamizh cinema film-buff, you would have by now guessed the level of performance from Jai. Meanwhile, Nazriya Nazim looks charming and has her moments, but the characterization was poor, hence the lesser scope for performance, for this lass. Heebah Patel looks good, but her role has no purpose and leaves no mark. The rest of the cast such as Jamal (voiced by Nassar), Dinesh, R.Pandiarajan, Mayilsamt, Deekshitha Manikkam, Badri Narayanan and etc were okay with their performances.

Vanitha Srinivasan's costume designing was good, especially for the lead pair, and her homework on two distinct cultures of Hindus and Muslims, was evident on screen. The costumes, especially for Heeba were gorgeous ! Action choreography was handled by Kanal Kannan and there was only one action block in the film. The initial chase and fight sequence was well executed and was not so over-the-top. Mu.Kasi Vishwanathan's editing was very functional and there were no gimmicks from the editor's table. Art direction is handled by Crawford and Dharmendra and both of them have done a good job with their respective tasks. The detailing for the Shia Muslim household, as well as Tamil Brahmin community's homes is notable, especially with the set properties. Loganathan Srinivasan's cinematography sufficed the needs of the script. His work in capturing the rich culture of Shia Muslim and Tamil Brahmin, is commendable.

The silver lining of the film is the brilliant musical score from M.Ghibran ! The songs are fantastic and it complements the mood and feel of the script. "Yaaro Ival" is a situational song, which was used initially as Nazriya's introductory song. The song appears sporadically throughout the film, in bits and pieces. "Rayile Raa" has Jai trying to impress the heroine and was shot on a railway platform and a medical camp-like set was put up for the song. Loganathan's rain shot, with the rays of sun, deserves mention. One of the pick of the lot, "Kannukkul Pothivaipen" is a cute and lovely song, shot on both Jai and Nazriya, in a Tamil Brahmin household environment, with the Golu Festival as the backdrop. The rooftop shots, with different rangolis looked lovely, especially with Loganathan's lighting for the particular portions. "Khwaja Ji" is picturized on Jai attending a Shia Muslim ritual, and is an eye-opener (literally !) for those who are unaware of the traditions of that particular Muslim denomination. "Chillendra" was shot on Jai and Heebah and is another celebration song, and this time it's the Ramzan festival. Jai's costume designing in this song, deserves mention. "Enthaara Enthaara" is the other chart-buster song and it was shot on Jai and Nazriya, developing their feelings for each other, which had plenty of montages. M.Ghibran's background score elevates the boring and half-baked sequences and its a pity that his brilliant scores are simply wasted !

Did Anis come up with a decent product, as asked earlier ? The answer is a resounding NO ! The script has a very wafer-thin plot and there's no connectivity at all between the sequences and the proceedings of the screenplay. There's no proper explanation of the dilemma faced by the lead pair and Anis did not convincingly portray the actual feelings of the lead pair. Were the pair in love with each other ? Or did they actually fall in love with the other's religion and not the individual ? Did they feel unconnected with their own community's trappings ? On an even serious note, was Anis trying to 'promote' Shia Muslim teachings and practices and not bother about story-telling and character development ?Only Anis has the answer ! To make it even worse, Anis falls for the commercial compromises, such as songs, an unwanted action sequence, half-baked romance portions and woefully portrayed serious/emotional scenes. There is no effort in detailing, in terms of writing & execution and Madhan Karky's dialogues too were abruptly cut short, which leaves the characters with unfinished dialogue portions !

'Thirumanam Enum Nikkah' - A blunder of an attempt in making a good film, which unfortunately had excellent musical score and interesting plot ideas !


Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL