Naan Tamil Movie
A solemn faced Vijay Antony helps you get through this stupid, exaggerated flick. But only up to a point. His character, Karthik, moves to another city with the little money he has, hoping to leave behind his past and start a new life. He assumes a new identity, Salim, and decides to keep his head low. Vijay Antony is comfortable in the shoes of this man. This is the second film in a week (the other being Eppadi Manasukkul Vandhai) that involves a poor kid moving in with a rich kid and an accidentally murder. When the accident happens, Antony turns his character into a supporting character I'd expect to find in Tom and Jerry. He aims for all the wrong expressions and even then, doesn't hit the right notes.
Where Eppadi Manasukkul Vandhai's Seenu had an intuitive ability, Naan's Karthik has the ability to mimic just about anyone and everyone. Where Seenu possessed the instinct of self-preservation, Karthik is illogically inhuman. He's not trying to keep his act of crime under the wraps. I have no idea what his plan is and I don't understand what the heck he's up to. Hell, I don't think he does either. The screenwriter simply decided to put him in close-shave situations so that you'll go "Fuck, that was so close!" But this farcical attempt at suspense rebounds as a dreaded bore because you will call all the bluffs. Watching Naan is like listening endlessly to a raconteur, with a history of yarn spinning, yak bullshit.
Can you not leave love out of this crime film? Is it really some dare-devil move that you aren't even willing to consider? Karthik kills his friend, weeps at his feet, assumes his identity, steals his money and then feels sorry for having to make Ashok's girlfriend feel like rejected trash- we have a music number surmise this. But nothing beats the fake climax, the perfectly inauthentic conclusion.
My condolences to Eppadi Manasukkul Vandhai, which is completing its week-long stay at the box office, only to be replaced by this dud of a film, which's success is owed entirely to Vijay Antony's past fame as a music director.
*SPOILERS*
Here's another beef I have with the film. Karthik wants to make it appear like there was a long struggle between him and Ashok. He pushes things around, overturns them and lets small articles topple over and break. The place looks like it's been struck by a tornado. Is that the twist? That Ashok is actually the name of a tornado that Karthik had been hallucinating about after giving it a humane form? Because, that would've been more believable than any of this.
.... to be continued in Naan part II.
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