After the rousing success of his debut home production 'Pandiya Naadu', Vishal is back once again, this time co-producing a film, with UTV Motion Pictures. 'Naan Sigappu Manithan' brings back the combo of Vishal-Thiru for the third time. Their last release 'Samar' was an interesting film, with plenty of surprises in store which got the audiences hooked. Here, the medical disorder of narcolepsy takes center stage, and that piqued the interest of all who caught up with the trailer. Can Vishal strike a second success consecutively ?
Vishal picks a similar character to his 'Pandiya Naadu' in this flick as well, but the narcoleptic condition creates a curiosity around his character. The subtle and understated demeanor of his character makes the fans root for him or to put it bluntly, he's the mass hero without all the commercial heroism ! Vishal gets a good dose of uplifting to his character, thanks to the arrangements of the director's screenplay. With a warm, earnest and measured performance, Vishal is going great guns, especially with all the falling in sleep (literally !). Lakshmi Menon, gets a makeover of an up-class but homely city-bred girl and she continues to defy her actual age by performing in a very matured and professional manner. Her chemistry with Vishal worked out well for the film. Sunder Ramu plays an important character, and though he is good as just the common friend of the hero, he needs to up his ante for the more challenging sequences, in which he was unconvincing with his portrayal. Jagan provides some comic relief in the first half and the rest of the cast such as Iniya (who plays an atypical female lead), Saranya Ponvannan, Jayaprakash, 'Pyramid' Natarajan, Rishi, Srinivas, Mayilsamy, Aarthi, Ramnath Shetty, V.I.S Jayapalan and etc were adequate.
Vasuki Bhaskar did a commendable job with the costume department, especially with the lead pair who looked their roles and reflected the socio-economic background the characters belonged to. Art direction is by Jacki, and his works are of good standards. The interiors of the houses, be it the protagonist's middle-class home or the heroine's posh bungalow and etc were perfectly propped. Ruben handles the editing department and his cuts kept the flow of the screenplay quite well, though the late second half gets a little slow in pace. Nevertheless, the action block in the climax was well edited. Dhilip Subbarayan handles the chase sequences and his work sufficed the needs of the screenplay, whereas the climax action choreography has been credited to Pradit Seeluem (Nung Stunt) of the One & Action Team from Thailand. The climax stunt sequence was intense and the choreography matched the intensity and Vishal's body language. Cinematography by Richard M.Nathan and his works complements the nature and mood of the sequences. The second half goes completely gritty and dark in nature and his top-angle shots, as well as the night and water-based shots adds more strength to the film.
G.V Prakash Kumar's music is not up to the usual standards, but some songs might find place in the hearts of people after viewing the film. "A Restless Soul" is the theme track and is played right at the beginning credits and is repeated at important junctures of the screenplay. "Yelelo" is the first song and marks the joy of the protagonist in achieving something he was fighting for. The church set, as well as the Binny Mills set-up by Jacki was well designed, and the song had couple of locations which adds different flavor to the picturization. "Penne Oh Penne" is the love duet of the lead pair and has been shot in picturesque locations of Rajasthan's Jodhpur and around the Hill Forts and deserts of Rajasthan. The lighting and camera angles by Richard M.Nathan and choreography by Shobi are the highlights of the song. "Idhayam Unnai" was shot in the snowy landscapes of Chandigarh's Kullu Manali. The song, which has a sober mood to it, has some arresting framing by Richard M.Nathan and the color tone complements the song's theme. "Lovely Ladies" is a dance number shot on the main characters and has the typical colorful lighting and pumping dance numbers as the highlights. G.V Prakash Kumar's background score is commendable, because the score raises the seriousness of the sequences and is gives a good finishing touch to the film. But the score gives us a sense of deja vu, especially piece which is similar to Zack Hemsey's "Mind Heist" track, which is popular for Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' trailer.
Thiru's handling of the narcolepsy factor is really praiseworthy because, the disorder was not just simply thrust into the script for the sake of USP. In fact, the narcolepsy element is ingrained into the core of the script. It keeps us hooked to the protagonist and keeps the curiosity factor fresh for most of the film, especially in the second half. The first half is a cool and breezy episode, where we have some lovely but unconventional love sequences, the protagonist's dilemma in facing the most basic things matters in life, the issue of disapproval for the lead pair's love and etc. Admirably, Thiru's handling of the emotional and sentimental scenes in the first half and the beginning of second half is mellowed and matured. The proceedings were not too melodramatic, which does not bore us. Thiru adopts the standard practice in contemporary Tamizh cinema, by narrating a lightweight first half, with all those lovey-dovey moments, and then shift gear into serious business for the second half. The second half starts off with a brutal and violent sequence, which diverts the film into a revenge-saga. Thiru's trump-card for keeping the audiences on the edge of their seats, is the handful of twists and turns, or to put it more aptly, shocking surprises, in the narration. The logic takes a backseat and Thiru takes liberties by loosely tying up the knots, without any convincing reasons and the loopholes blatantly overshadowed by the drama, unfolding upon the audiences. The story in the second half is just too simple and conveniently tied up or in layman terms, lazy writing. The songs further impedes the pace of the film and is also badly placed. Thiru's dialogues, especially in the first half are witty and catchy, though. Overall, 'Naan Sigappu Manithan' is a not-so-bad commercial entertainer, with an intriguing medical disorder element.
'Naan Sigappu Manithan' - Non-sleep inducing 'masala' entertainer !
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
Vishal is back with another action film, which is directed by Thiru, who has collaborated with him in the dampener, 'Theeradha Vilaiyaattu Pillai'. For Vishal, this is a very critical film, because he has been treading the wrong path where a slew of his previous releases, all were failures. In order to survive, this must click for him. With an interesting star cast, and picturized in Thailand for most duration of the film, 'Samar' intrigued viewers with its slick trailer, which did not give out any particular hints. So how did the movie fare ?
For Vishal, this movie is a throwback to his 'Sandaikozhi' and 'Thimiru' days were he underplayed his role, with controlled performance. He has put his strong and built physique to good use in the action scenes. The no-nonsense and introvert characterization was carried out well by Vishal and it is enjoyable for us to watch him perform in this manner. Well done, Vishal ! Trisha, does her part well and was confident in her dialogue delivery and for dubbing in her own voice. She looks good and was at ease throughout the film. Sunaina barely had anything to do other than to act in a couple of scenes and to dance for a song, though her character was needed. Critically acclaimed performers Manoj Bajpai and J.D Chakravarthy fall way short of in delivering strong and outstanding performances, though they are very much capable of delivering it. Blame the director, for the poorly sketched characters of Manoj and J.D. The rest of the cast such as Jayaprakash, Sampath, Sriman, Azhagam Perumal, John Vijay, Uma Padhmanabhan and others are adequate.
Vasugi Bhaskar's costume designing was very apt for each characters, where the costumes reflected the personality of each characters. Sound designing by Renganaath Ravee was good, especially in the stunt sequences. Jacki's art work was adequate, considering that the majority of the film was captured in real life locations and his work blends in well with the surroundings. Ruben's editing is just nice, especially for the stunt scenes, which is the trump card of the film. Stunt choreography is the highlight of the film. Each stunt scenes were solidly choreographed and most importantly, was very natural and realistic. It is a delight to watch such pumping action scenes, neatly executed in Tamizh cinema. Kudos to the stunt choreographers, Kanal Kannan, Rajashekar, Jimmy from Singapore and also to Nang of the Baan Rig team from Thailand. Great work by them ! Complementing the stunt sequences, is Richard M.Nathan's stunning cinematography (who also makes a small cameo appearance in the film). He has used plenty of aerial shots in and around Bangkok. His color tone and lighting aptly follows the changes of locations in the film, as the story progresses. Another good job well in his portfolio !
Yuvan Shankar Raja's music is a letdown for this film. His score is average considering the fact, he can deliver chart-busting songs. "Oru Kannil Vegam" is the introductory song of the protagonist and depicts his life as a forest ranger. There are plenty of pleasing aerial shots by Richard in this song and captures the beauty of the forest in different lights. "Azhago Azhagu" is the pick of the lot from the album. It was picturized on the three characters of Vishal, Trisha and Sunaina and was shot entirely in and around Putrajaya city of Malaysia with some iconic buildings and landmark being the backdrop. "Poikaal Kudhirai" is an interesting number, which was well placed in the film. There are plenty of cut-shots, which are mostly picturized at night and features many facets of Bangkok and its surroundings. "Vellai Mayil" is a romantic number shot on Vishal and Trisha, with aerial shots along the sea shore and besides that, shot mostly within posh hotel premises. The final song "Raajavin Thottathil" is a hot, club number shot on sexily-clad item girls and features the two antagonists of the film, enjoying themselves. The lighting and camera movements by Richard M.Nathan complements the mood and feel of the song. Background score was handled by Dharan Kumar and he shows is prowess in good sound mixing with apt background music, be it for suspense scenes or for romantic scenes.
Director Thiru has delivered an interesting plot and theme, laced with the right amount of commercial aspects for this film. He has handled the majority of the screenplay quite well, maintaining the suspense, gripping twists and turns and some surprises towards the last 15 minutes of the film. The film keeps us guessing until the last 15 minutes, on what is happening in the film, until the secret is revealed. But once the suspense is unraveled, the film looses its fizz and ends on a rather tepid manner, which makes us to feel that the overall end product could have been better. The director rightfully avoided inserting any comedy scenes into the screenplay. Dialogues by Thiru and S.Ramakrishnan was very much suitable for the script, being straight-forward and not overtly dramatic, except for those uttered by the antagonists. The idea of the script definitely has an inspiration from some Hollywood and Korean films, but Thiru has cleverly adapted the idea to suit the taste and sensibilities of Tamizh audience.
After a long time, we get to see a good movie from Vishal and though it could have been presented in a better manner, it still delivers a decent action thriller, with enough thrills and chases in keeping our attention. Not so great, but not bad, either.
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
