Nila (Tamil, 2016)

It is such a wonderful feeling when a crowd-funded indie film manages to completely floor you. Debutant writer-director Selvamani shows the kind of mastery over his craft that even seasoned filmmakers do not possess these days. Flawless direction, tremendous visual sense and a shrewd usage of Ilayaraja songs (certainly not the wannabe kind) are indicative of his maturity.

Vicky who plays the role of Vimal, the taxi driver is sensational. Having been on the fringes with minor appearances in films like AYM and Vadacurry, this trained actor certainly looks the part. The myriad of emotions that he brings out is reminiscent of the best of Dhanush so much so that we were playfully tagging him ’Arthouse Dhanush’ while watching it on Netflix.

Whoever made the decision to cast Sruthi in the role needs to be lauded. Apart from looking gorgeous, Sruthi brings out her pain within using just her expressions with minimal dialogues. It is quite rare for a lead actress to be given the ‘Additional Screenplay’ credit and kudos to her as well as the team for graciously honoring her involvement in this little indie.

From the supporting cast, the boy who plays Vimal in the village episode brings out expressions that belie his age. The whole episode in the village brims with realistic nostalgia of Ambassador cars and cramped schools without stuffing scenic shots as fillers. The cameraman Piyush Goswami deserves ample praise for his marvelous work in the film where every frame literally looks like a painting if I can borrow that phrase from Tony Zhou.

Jhanu’s montage songs & the background score set the mood of the scene brilliantly. The sound design by Suren and Alagiakoothan add immense value to the late night setting in the majority of the film. The shots and the score reminds one of the master Wong Kar Wai on many occasions, particularly the epic ‘In the mood for Love’.

NA