Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara, Parthiban, Raadhika Sarathkumar, RJ Balaji, Anandaraj, Rajendran, Mansoor Ali Khan.
Director: Vignesh Shivan.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Perhaps this is the kind of film Vijay Sethupathi runs first for. And perhaps this is the kind of film Nayanthara excels in. What fun it must have been for Sethupathi to just about ruffle his feathers from ‘Soodhu Kavvum’. In ‘Soodhu Kavvum’, the hero was a middle-aged man struggling to find new ways to make a fast buck. Here, too, Sethupathi tries to fall on the other side of the law. With help from a couple of his friends, he sets up a ‘rowdy’ shop in ‘Naanum Rowdy Dhaan’. That explains the title and his character. He provides a range of services to his customers. Leg breaking, cross talk (crazy phone call to a person the customer hates), etc. All the details are gloriously painted on the walls of his rowdy shop.
Even before the release of the film one could easily draw a picture for the story of ‘Naanum Rowdy Dhaan’ by listening to the soundtrack album. After the trailer’s release, it was not a big deal actually. Still, Vignesh Shivan entertains us with a range of hilarious comments and situations. Nayanthara as Kadambari is a dream too good to be true. But as things go forward we realize that “Kaadu" (as Sethupathi calls her sweetly) isn’t a typical woman who’d fall in love with a wannabe rowdy instantly. Vignesh Shivan has written more than prettiness to Nayanthara’s character.
We have been seeing machete-wielding rowdies crowd our screens. Picture this: the main villain of the film; a veteran rowdy in shorts. That’s Parthiban for you. He’s terrific whenever he appears on-screen. He’s in every way a nuisance to the society and the film’s leads but we are happy watching him mouth funny lines. That’s the entire tone of the film. Humor and glycerine tinted emotions are sandwiched between Anirudh’s cracker-like music and George C. Williams’s moody cinematography. RJ Balaji has a quick one-liner and before you blink Nayanthara has an emotional dialogue. This slows down the goodness factor of the film. Humor is allowed to sink in whereas the core of the story that’s deep-fried in Nayanthara’s angst merely passes by.
When Mansoor Ali Khan enters the screen, the film slips into old-school making. He doesn’t fit into the narrative. He hampers the proceedings like rough edges of a page-turner. The film dips considerably during a scuffle between Parthiban’s henchmen and Mansoor’s men. Hey, there’s light at the end of the tunnel though. During the final moments of the film, Sethupathi owns the scenes. What’s supposed to be an emotional closure becomes another naturally inserted comical element.
‘Naanum Rowdy Dhaan’ is a pretentious piece of cinema as a genre. Nevertheless, it’s a guilt-free couple of hours of entertainment.
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