Nimir Tamil Movie
Claimed to be an adaptation of a Malayalam film, "Maheshinte Prathikaaram", "Nimir" directed by the veteran, Priyadarshan had so many interesting things with the south-west coast's ethos. Little did I know that the movie was a remake in the first place. While watching I was constantly wondering why this was made as a Tamil movie and that too by a Malayali director? Let's see the movie's struggles to fit into the Tamil ethos and also with the mainstream ecosystem with Udhayanidhi.
The movie opens in monochrome with Selvam (Udhayanidhi) taking a dive into a pond and rising up with a pair of slippers in his hand. The frame freezes and then we get a title song in colour introducing Selvam's world, his introvert photographer father (director Mahendran), his father's childhood friend (MS Bhaskar) and finally the girl he loves (Parvati Nair).
Selvam is a small time photographer in a small town that presumably borders Kerala (maybe that's the justification for the ethos?). Due to some interesting turn of events, he gets thrashed in his own town by a thug (Samuthirakani). He swears to walk bare-footed until he gets back his revenge. Did Selvam avenge the thug?
The movie at large was entirely organic. Though we were only hinted of the place that the movie takes place, it was good enough for us to have a sense of the happenings. The character of director Mahendran as Selvam's father was quite unique and one wouldn't come across often in Tamil cinema. Art and artists are always considered to be abstract at large and one couldn't have portrayed the mind of a photographer and that too a supporting character any better. The beauty was enhanced when that character made to guide his son with his wisdom at one point. Post that scene, there was some kind of a cheeky translation-in-a-day kind of a payoff that was not believable. But still, so much for the character building exercise.
Udhayanidhi is slowly but surely finding his feet and choosing the characters that he could play with some finesse. A great relief is to see an actor play a common man than try to groom his stardom with masala elements. This character is a "non-hero" who struggles to get a pay-off until the climax where we are given a hero's send-off for the actor.
The new girl Namitha Pramod who predominantly occupies the second half had that run-of-the-mill bubbly role but carried it off cutely with emotive expressions. With the likes of MS Bhaskar and Aruldoss, the supporting cast was beefy enough.
The most interesting bit was the domino-like sequence that starts off as a light comic episode consequently snowballs into the plot's core element, justifying the purpose of a "hero's existence". Apart from that, there were so many ordinarily spun scenes that were aimed to create an impact but largely failed to do so, mainly due to the alienated ethos.
The songs were melodious and my pick of the lot would be "Nenjil Maamazhai" which was so expressively rendered by Haricharan and Sweta. Another one would be "Eppothum Unmael Nyabagam" sung by Vijay Prakash. It's been awhile since I took note of songs and singers other than the ones from mainstays like Rehman. On that note, hearty congrats to music director Ajaneesh Loknath. The cinematography by Ekambaram was eye catchy as well.
Overall, the movie's content was nothing praiseworthy, but it was well conceived but delivered to the wrong audience - it was basically lost in translation, to put it simply. So much I admire the making of the film, I constantly search for the people who could speak that language and fit into the ethos where it was showcased. It's a bit disappointing on why an experienced director like Priyadarshan hadn't realized it?