Movie: Naanum Rowdy Dhaan
Direction: Vignesh Shivan
Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Nayantara, Parthiban, Raadhika Sarathkumar
Music Director: Anirudh Ravichander
Cinematography: George C. Williams
Editor: A. Sreekar Prasad
Genre: Action, Comdey
Rating: ∗∗∗∗
What is it about: A story about a young lad, who is in a dilemma to choose his career path. A dilemma so crucial, that he seeks a goon’s advice, and later decides to become a “Rowdy” over “Police”. This young lad grows up to become a Rowdy Pondy-Pandi (Vijay Sethupathi), who works under wraps to hide this truth from his mother Raadhika who is a police officer. One beautiful night he bumps in to Kadambari (Nayanthara), who wanders the streets of Puducherry looking for her father. After which our hero falls in love with her at first sight. In order to woo her, he does anything and everything to prove he’s a genuine rowdy and one fine day he’s asked to perform a task which becomes quite impossible for him. What happens next forms the crux of the story directed by Vignesh Sivan.
Why it’s disappointing: The movie doesn’t have much to be disappointed, so this section can be at rest for “NRD”.
What to watch out for: This movie scores high mainly because of the well-crafted screenplay, which does not dulls out even for a minute. It keeps you hooked on for the entire runtime. The credit also goes to the entire cast who did a great job in entertaining the audience.
The lead character Pondy-Pandi was etched out very well, and suited perfectly as if it was tailor made for Vijay Sethupathi. He’s a master of impeccable timing when it comes to dialogue delivery. And when you top that with comedy, it becomes impossible for you to stop your laughter. Vijay Sethupathi has a great panache for expressing his skills, which suits every emotion required for a destined character. His body language and the way he carries a character is what the actor he’s become today.
Nayanthara is on cloud nine with back to back hits, and characters which defines her acting skills to its true potential. In this she plays a character of a deaf girl and did a commendable job. She have shed a lot and looks fabulous, you’ll go nuts over her revamped looks. Just a tee or tank top and long skirts, these were the costumes given to her, and she looks the prettiest. With her acting skills her comic timing has improved a lot and she makes a great case when it comes to comedy scenes.
Parthiban as “Killivalavan” in grey shades did a great job, it was nice to see him don a role of a Rowdy and he did that with great style and comic sense. Whenever Parthiban and Vijay lock horns it’s a great scene to watch, which tickles your funny bone to the core.
Rj Balaji, what can I say about this guy, he’s getting better these days. In Yatchan he did a great job, and here in NRD he has done a terrific job. His counters and one-liners will leave you laughing the whole time. Imagine when Vijay Sethupathi and Rj Balaji come together it’s a comedy chaos.
Another character which requires a special mention is Anandraj, he was simply too good, he may have less screen space but when he is on screen its hilarious. He dished out a great performance.
The rest of the supporting cast did a good job, and Mottai Rajendran gives a great cameo in the movie which remains a good memory.
Anirudh’s score was great, all the songs were timed well and not forced in to the screenplay, and the best was his background score which rocked all the action sequences.
Cinematography was splendid, and few shots were captured really well by George C.Williams, he once again gave the best and made NRD look upbeat. The movie runs at a tight pace which was well cut by Sreekar Prasad.
Verdict: Vignesh Sivan did a great job in deriving a perfect character to this ROWDY who captivates everyone’s heart with his exuberant charm, to which Nayan’s beauty falls prey. NRD’s highlight is its rib tickling engaging climax sequence which takes your breath away laughing hard. Definitely worth a watch, a great stress buster and a good flick to catch on silver screen this Poojai holidays.
