Naanum Rowdydhaan (Tamil, 2015)

Rarely do we get to see writer-directors who are brave enough to mix & match genres. They generally play safe by sticking to one of horror, comedy, action, thriller or masala. But Vignesh Sivan who mildly impressed in his debut flick Podaa Podi comes out all guns blazing in his second directorial Naanum Rowdydhaan jumping across genres with disdain. While comedy does dominate the proceedings there is a strong undercurrent of emotion with a tinge of action too. The enormous work that must have gone behind sculpting each scene shows.

In spite of all his successful ventures over the years such as Pizza, NKPK, Soodhu Kavvum, etc the one film which took Vijay Sethupathi to the masses was his over-the-top spectacular character in IDHABA. One can confidently say that he has been able to touch that mark once again in this film. He is a kind of actor who doesn’t make a lot of changes to the way he delivers dialogues but the subtle changes in modulation & of course his unparalleled body language makes him fascinating to watch. A prime example would be the classy scene where he shares his emotions to Kadhambari in the 1st half.

Nayanthara the current box-office queen so to speak, once again has been able to select a script that is as much from her POV as from the Hero. She scores in the role of a deaf girl on many occasions but is outstanding particularly in the scene where she explains it to Pandi’s friends at the hotel. The fact that her disability is never abused is another feather in the cap for the team.

The richness in characterization of the supporting characters generally takes a film to another level. In that context the way Vignesh Sivan has been able to assign an individuality to each character and extract the performances from the actors irrespective of their seniority & experience is exemplary. From RJ Balaji to Parthiban, Mansoor Ali Khan to Anand Raj, from Riyaz to ‘Rahul’ Thatha, Radhika to the foreigner names Kamakshi, from Rajendran to the henchman I saw last in Pudhupettai, he has been able to get the best out of each.

With a stalwart like Sreekar Prasad at the editing table and an innovative upcoming cameraman in George Williams, the film is technically rich in terms of visuals and the overall flow. Anirudh’s music proves to be strong pillar for the film with his top notch songs and background score. The sound design too should be praised especially in the scene where Nayanthara visualizes her mother’s death. The director’s respect for his crew is evident when he calls out the names of his technical crew prefixing “A Film From” to each before his name comes up in the end credits.

The song placements & lyrics flow fabulously in line with the film and never once do they bore the audience. Similarly the costumes of all the characters from the lead pair to the last henchman are apt. All of the dialogues seem necessary & relevant and their catchiness is evident from how many different dialogues the audience were quoting as they exited the theatre.

While the youth will certainly enjoy it, there is certainly an overdose of vulgarity in the dialogues. However a point to be noted in favor of the makers that it has been knowingly written and targeted for such a crowd which is definitely not wrong. The censor board too have rightly given a UA certificate.