'Naalai Namathey': Fights, item numbers and crass comedy

Film: 'Naalai Namathey'; Direction: Vinayan; Cast: Pradeep, Sharvand, Tanisha, Kiran, Manivannan, Rajan B. Dev, Ashish Vidyarthi, Charlie and M.S. Bhaskar; Cinematographer: Rajaratnam; Music: Bharadwaj; Rating: *

The title is lifted from one of late matinee idol and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M.G. Ramachandran's hit movie number meaning 'tomorrow shall be ours'.

The film's director Vinayan has been credited with offbeat screen successes like 'Kasi' starring Vikram. But this time Vinayan has handed out a big disappointment as the film in nothing but a mish-mash of fights, item numbers and crass comedy.

In a nutshell, 'Naalai Namathey' is all about a rich crook (Ashish Vidyarthi), his donation of Rs.12 billon to a government-run orphanage and a criminally bent politician (Rajan P. Dev) with dubious intentions to usurp the cash.

With this thin ice for a storyline, director Vinayan has skated with his proceedings with an attempt at romance between the leads Sharvand and Tanisha, the sidelight of a courtesan, who cannot dance (Kiran), and an item number from glorified extra Rahasiya - all strictly meant for voyeurs.

While the music and cinematography are somewhere around the average, the rest of the cast including a hamming Vidyarthi seriously torture the audience.

In his right mind, editor Mukesh ought to have trashed the whole film. Instead, he has merely snipped the no-good shots and the clapper-marks to give the film its length to justify cinemas to claim their rent.

Vinayan has blotted his copybook with this B grade stuff.