Neruppu Da Tamil Movie
From the title it's obvious that the movie has attempted to take a mass route to reach its target audience. This seems to be just another experiment on Vikram Prabhu, who, like any other star kid enjoys the luxury to fire bullets in the dark with the hope of a random hit. Leave alone Vikram Prabhu hitting the target, was he able to pull the trigger at all in the first place?
The plot of "Neruppu da" from a mass movie's template perspective was as generic as it could be. A do-gooder with his friends leads a happy life. Circumstances force him to lock horns with a dreaded goon. His ambition and loved ones are being crushed in the process. He avenges it successfully at the end.
There have been numerous movies spun around this classic plot structure. The differentiating factors for a movie following this structure would be an engaging narrative and screenplay, unique mise en scene, appreciable performances and solid technicalities.
Apart from the hero working as a firefighter, other things were ridiculously problematic areas in "Neruppu da". The dialogues, scenes, songs, performances or be it anything in the movie, we could see what was in store much ahead.
For instance, the movie starts with a drunkard inadvertently lighting up a neighbourhood which leads to the hero's introduction, with the fire brigade storming to save the people. He saves a mother and her kid with some risky stunts and we get the obvious quote from the woman "Saami maathiri kaapaathuna". Soon after that, a senior officer quotes that he hasn't seen such a brilliant firefighter in his 20-year career. Well, now you should get an idea what "generic" means? There has been no effort in terms of writing to develop such scenes to make them unique.
We could forgive all that, but the hero and his fire brigade dressed up as firemen even before getting appointed in the department was another level of wishful thinking. Then obviously, there was a doll-like female (Nikki does it again) sent into the mix with the "sing-dance-get-cosy" mode ON. She happens to be the senior officer's daughter and the impressed officer flags off their relationship in a jiffy. And yes, there was a father sentiment too in the mix.
'Motta' Rajendran who was supposed to be a comic relief was a pain in the ear. He struggles to gather momentum and all he managed was to flex his larynx to make decibels of great magnitude. Madhusudhan Rao as 'Puliyanthoppu' Ravi felt constipated throughout with a raised voice and very little action. R.S. Shivaji in a goon's role planting sinister plans made me laugh with tears. I can only say "Neenga Engeyo Pointinga Sir"!!
The technicalities were above average. Music and BGM from Sean were average. "Aalankiliye" was hummable, while the rest was just a rush through. The supposed twist at the end with Sangeetha playing a transgender's role seemed to be an afterthought, especially after the vile mess that they made till then. Anyway, it just wasn't enough to make the movie any better.
Director Ashok Kumar seems to be the new turkey on the block, helpless and left to defend his role as a director, especially when the project was being bank rolled by the leading man himself. The movie was a vile mess of wishful thinking gone wrong with hardly anything to offer in terms of content or an engaging screenplay. Avoidable!
MOVIE REVIEWS