Navarasa - Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru - Review

Bharath Vijayakumar

GVM's film, like its title, actually rests on a very thin line of a plot, if at all it can be called that. What if the train episode from Vaaranam Aayiram was made into a short? GVM tries to do something like that in this short about 'Love'. Love between two people need not and maybe cannot be understood by others. It is futile to pass a judgement on a bond that is shared between two individuals. But in a film, that bond needs to be relatable and if not, atleast engaging or intriguing for the audience. Unfortunately whatever that happens between Kamal (an earnest Surya) and Nethra (Prayaga) is anything but interesting. Having a film built around conversations is obviously going to be difficult and if the audience cannot get into the headspace of the two characters, it is going to be one dreary affair. And this is exactly how Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru turned out for me. Again, like its title, this is a film that tries to be poetic but what we get feels like those poems written by an eager teenager with raging hormones. Don't blame me if Shiva from Chennai 6000028 comes to mind. The age difference between the two characters is the only interesting aspect of the film but even that becomes futile as both characters don't seem to behave their age. It is not that two people in love will not act crazy or use cheesy pick up lines but it is just that the interaction here feels artificial.

I don't know yet if the other segments of Navarasa too have Tamil subtitles for dialogues from other languages. But this one with predominantly English conversations has Tamil subtitles right through. It was irritating (because the font size is too big to ignore) at first but after a while it turned out to be more entertaining than what is happening on screen. Surya is singing for the audience at an event and they sing along. He says, "Let's do the 'Oh' Now" and the subtitles read "Ippo oru 'O' seyyalam". In another scene Kamal says "Come on" as a retort and the subtitles read "Vaa". In another instance Pragaya says "Yes!!!" as a sign of being excited and the subtitles read "Aama". I felt like responding like Vadivelu to the title of the film, "You stand man, Why me?".

An earnest Surya and some good music are the primary takeaways from this film. Maybe it will work for those who can relate to the two characters but for the rest, this one is no music to the ears.