Nenjil Thunivirundhal Review - Lacklustre outing!

Bharath Vijayakumar

Time and again while watching Nenjil Thunivirundhal I had to convince myself that I was indeed watching a Suseenthiran film. It is not that the man has never slipped before (notably in Rajapattai). Sometimes having a negative response to a movie is not really a bad thing. But with Nenjil Thunivirundhal what you feel is indifference to what is happening on screen.

Plot:

It is the standard idea that Suseenthiran resorts to when he tries to make a grounded action film. Someone close to the hero is in danger and he has to act fast before things culminate in that violent showdown in the climax.

There is a whole lot of issues with the film. The very first scene is about how medical negligence costs the life of the hero's father. For such an important scene we absolutely feel no emotion. It plays out like one of those dubbed documentaries they used to play in movie theatres a while ago. Then throughout the first half the film keeps alternating between comedy, romance and the modus operandi of the villains. The comedy is tiresome while the lip sync of the heroine and the romantic track is shockingly bad even in comparison with the pretty low standards that our average potboilers have set. It is only the portions of the villain that keeps our interest alive. Imman's BGM in these portions create some curiosity even though there might be only little happening on screen. The songs however do not work. There is a nice idea of turning the TASMAC song on its head by having lyrics in supporting the female gender but the song in itself hardly registers

The second half is much better for the simple reason that it tracks only the cat and mouse game between the hero and the villains. Here again Suseenthiran is not at the top of his game but he atleast sets the ball rolling and there is certainly some momentum in the narration. The big reveal just before the climax too is nothing much to write about. You wonder what all the fuss was about. The dialogues about doctors and medicine being a service industry comes across as perfunctory And so close on the heels of Mersal it does seem like the Vijay starrer might have stolen some thunder.

Bottomline:

It is clear that Suseenthiran is not in form here. This is a surprise given the fact that this is a template that he showed command over in Naan Mahan Alla and Pandiya Nadu.

Rating: 2/5