Naan Mahan Alla movie Review with rating
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Studio Green Films, Cloud Nine Productions
Production: K.E. Gnyanavel Raja, Dayanidhi Azhagiri
Direction: Susindran
Actors: Karthi, Kajal Aggarwal, Jaya Prakash and others.
Dialogues: Bhaskar Sakthi
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Camera: Mathi
Editing: Kasi Viswanathan
Lyrics: Na. Muthukumar, Yuga Bharathy, Francis
Stunt: Anal Arasu
Art: Rajeevan
Choreography: Sabeena Khan, Baba Bhaskar
Story line:
Expectations ran high on ‘Naan Mahan Alla’ for it comes after a hat-trick success for Karthi (‘Paruthi Veeran’, ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ and ‘Paiyaa’) and an impressive debut by director Sussendhran (‘Vennila Kabbadi Kuzhu’).
What more, the movie’s title does evoke a curiosity for it is inspired by a yesteryear hit of Superstar Rajnikanth. Living up to all hype is ‘Nan Maahan Alla’, produced by Gnanavelraja’s Studio Green and released by Dhayanidhi Alagiri’s Cloud Nine Movies.
The complete first hour (80mins) has nothing to do with the journey as Susindran established the conflict merely at the point of intermission. It looks like the filmmaker wanted to keep the first half with fun, frolic and romance and the latter half with complete contrast. For sure, audiences would feel like watching two different movies due to lack of relevance. The major drawback of the film is Susindran’s amateur way of handling certain sequences. Chennai’s most raucous roughneck and his henchmen killed by youngsters are unbelievable. Maybe, they’re serial killers, but that doesn’t mean they can bump off the most dangerous hooligans just like that.
What begins as a light-hearted fare ends with adrenaline-rushing action with blood and gore, the two things which are of late considered in Tamil cinema as essential ingredients for a commercial fare.
Jeeva (Karthi) is a cool youth who lives life in his own way. A typical Chennai youngster, for him everything is friends and fun. His father Jayaprakash (Jayaprakash), a call taxi driver showers all love and affection on him. They lead s simple life and they derive happiness in whatever they do.
One day, Jeeva comes across Priya (Kajal Agarwal) in a wedding ceremony. After few interesting encounters, they realise that they share a great rapport and propose to each other. When all things seem to go well, a murder attempt on Jeeva’s father disturbs everything.
Jeeva’s father had to witness a girl being taken by a gang in his car. The girl gets killed and the gentleman decides to knock the doors of justice. Sensing trouble, the gang eventually murders him.
The death of his father shatters Jeeva. He vows to revenge the killers. He sets out on a mission to identify the culprits and goes running around the town baying for their blood. How he avenges the killers form the rest.
Karthi is right there in almost all frames. He reminds one of Karthik of ‘Mounam Ragam’ days in the first half. Resembling the boy-next-door, he leaves an impact with his spontaneous, cool, casual looks and he speaks straight from his heart.
Giving him right company is Kajal Agarwal. Jayaprakash, after donning the role of a menacing villain in ‘Vamsam’, has played a caring and a dotting father. Soori of ‘Vennila Kabbadi Kuzhu’ does tickle the funny bone in you. The rest of the cast including Lakshmi Ramakrishnan, Neelima, Raviprakash and Rajivan are adequate
Sussendhran deserves all credit for etching a script that accommodates all ingredients for a commercial entertainer. It has loads of humour, romance and sentiments besides action. The filmmaker who started with a bang in ‘Vennila Kabbadi Kuzhu’, has taken a giant leap to render a mass masala theme with Karthi giving him a right company.
Due credit should go to Yuvan Shankar Raja. The rock star has come up with a couple of catchy tunes, especially ‘Oru Malai Neram…’. His re-recording adds more strength to the script. Madhie’s cinematography and Kasi Viswanathan’s editing add value to the work on screen. Anal Arasu deserves all kudos for stunt sequences that resemble close to reality.
On the flip side, the movie’s pace slackens towards the second half. It needs some urgent trimming. Also the events unfold at predictable way especially towards the climax. All said, ‘Nan Mahan Alla’ should be a movie to cherish for Karthi fans. A commercial entertainer that is impressive in most parts.
