Naan Sigappu Manithan – Diverse halves !

Bharath Vijayakumar

Vishal seems to be a lot careful in choosing scripts these days. Though there were the usual Vedi and Pattathu Yaanai in between, you sense his eagerness to provide quality fare with films like Avan Ivan and Pandiya Nadu. Director Thiru showed glimpses of promise in Samar. Though the treatment could have been better, Samar had an unusual storyline. The duo is back together with their latest offering Naan Sigappu Manithan(NSM) that has been abuzz ever since the teaser has been out with everyone being interested about ‘narcolepsy’.

Plot:

This was very much given away in the trailer. It is a revenge saga where the protagonist has to overcome his medical ailment that hinders his routine. Indiran (Vishal) has to face an unusual battle in his daily life with even normal things that people do being an achievement for him due to his narcolepsy. Meera (Lakshmi Menon) comes into his life and everything he has hoped for falls in place. Tragedy soon strikes from nowhere and Indiran now seeks revenge on the people who played spoilsport in his life.

Cast & Crew:

Vishal excels with his understated performance. It is good to see him in two back to back action films where he plays the normal guy with no artificial heroism being pumped in. Lakshmi Menon continues to be her confident self with neat performances. It really surprises you that Saranya Ponvannan continues to enthrall us despite playing the omnipresent mother of Tamil cinema. Sundar, Iniya and Jagan do their respective parts well.

G.V.Prakash has come up with breezy melodies. The songs have been choreographed innovatively and captured neatly by Richard M Nathan. The film has sleek production values and has an overall glossy feel to it.

Direction:

The first half of NSM breezes through nicely. The romance between Vishal and Lakshmi Menon has been built up quite well. The small incidents woven around the narcolepsy factor are interesting. Just like Samar, here too Thiru has many twists lined up towards the end. The hitch here is that while our actual interest is how the hero is going to  give it back to the perpetrators of the crime with narcolepsy being in the way, we are all of a sudden given a new story that does shock us. But this shock also acts as a hindrance to the vibe that we have developed towards the plot that we actually thought was the main line of the film. All of a sudden narcolepsy takes a backseat. This inconsistency towards narcolepsy in the latter half of the film should have definitely been taken care of as we have invested our entire time in the first half on this particular aspect of the hero’s characterization. But this aside NSM works fairly well as a drama that keeps us engaged all the while.

Bottomline:

NSM has a neat first half and a decent second half with disconnect between the two halves.

Verdict:

Rating: 2.75/5

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