After a string of serious films, Dhanush turns to director Sargunam for a commercial comic, Naiyaandi. Having Nazriya Nazim, Soori, Sriman, Sathyan, Sathish and Imman Annachi for company, it has music by M.Ghibran and cinematography by Velraj.
Inspired from the Malayalam comedy MeleperambilAanVeedu, Naiyaandi is the love story of ChinnaVandu (Dhanush) and the chronicles between him and his family.
As the pre-release hype was already low key, Naiyaandi banked on its lead stars Dhanush and Nazriya. Ghibran's music was an added delight, with Teddy Bear standing out.
The first half of Naiyaandi progresses on the love track between Dhanush and Nazriya, peppered with comic elements from Soori, Ashwin, Imman Annachi and Sathish. Even though the movie does manage to crack you up from time to time, it fails to gain momentum, and you will find yourself squirming at the interval bang. What follows is a much better half, which is laded with more laughs than it originally promised. Sriman and Sathyan together do a better job than what the others failed to do in the first half of the movie. Some comic scenes are well planned and executed, but at the same time there are some which make you dump your head in your hand.
As always, Dhanush does his job to perfection. He extends his boy-next-door image to a higher extent in Naiyaandi, and brings out a performance which is close to natural. Nazriya looks cute, emotes well too. She can go places provided she decides to keep herself from being the kid onscreen. Sriman is the showstopper here, he comes in as a surprise package and one must say that Naiyandi picks up only after his entrance. Soori, Sathyan and the rest are fine, playing their roles to the book.
Cinematography by Velraj is mediocre. Some close-up shots are totally random and in turn, fall out of frame. Editing is crisp. M.Ghibran has come up with some unique songs with innovative orchestration. But his efforts are put to waste, as the song picturisations don't grasp the attention and fail to bring in the feel, except for Teddy Bear which is comparatively better. He does catch up in the BGM, which by itself makes you laugh, at times.
Sargunam's writing and direction both take a dip in Naiyaandi, withstanding the point that the base of the script is lifted from another movie. A feather brained factor prevails throughout, providing a silly setting which dates back to a few years. Naiyaandi is far from being a perfect commercial entertainer. Nevertheless, it is not a blank movie. It's just that we got to wait a little more for a Dhanush movie which is liked by all.
-Siddarth Srinivas
Verdict : Watch,laugh,forget
