Nanban Movie Review

Film Title: Nanban
Starring: Vijay, Jeeva, Srikanth, Ileana D’Cruz, Sathyan, Sathyaraj
Direction: S.Shankar
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Producer: Gemini Film Circuit
Story by: Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi, Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Cinematography: Manoj Paramahamsa
Editing: Anthony
Movie Running time: 190 minutes
Rating:

Review: Nanban is worth a watch

Many eyebrows were raised when it was announced that the Hindi blockbuster 3 Idiots would be remade in Tamil with Shankar as the director.

Remakes are always tricky, and if the lead actor is a big star, matters get complicated. However, it appears that with Gemini Film Circuit's Nanban (Friend), both Shankar and Ilaya Thalapathi Vijay have pulled it off.

For starters, there are no starry airs in the title credits, which is a welcome variation. The hero appears a good fifteen minutes into the film and, even better, there are no fights. Panchavan Paarivendan or Paari (Vijay), a first year engineering student in Ideal Engineering College, seems to be a bit of a rebel when it comes to learning and doesn't take his classes seriously. But it's the system he's against, not education itself.

Which cannot be said of his two friends Venkatraman (Srikanth) and Sevarkodi Senthil (Jiiva), who desperately want to pass every exam because that's what's expected of them. Thrown into the mix is Silencer (Satyan), an irritating know-it-all who always meets his nemesis at Paari's hands. And then there's the principal of the college, Virumandi Sandhanam aka Virus (Sathyaraj), who's out to get our trio.

In the midst of all this is Paari's emerging love affair with Riya (Ileana), a medical student. Of course, the fact that she's Virus's daughter only complicates things.

In many ways Nanban isn't really about events, plot-points or sudden twists; it's the story of two friends who see light in their lives through another.

Vijay as Paari is the life and soul of the story. This is the guy you desperately want to see on-screen. Vijay has, after quite a while, has dived into a role as a do-gooder who isn't very saintly. As Paari he's funny, honest, and genuinely wants to see his friends happy. But he also happens to be a genius. It's a very appealing combination. There is less of dancing and fighting and more of feel-good emotions and humour. He is, frankly, a joy to watch.

Jiiva and Srikanth provide able support. The desperation in Jiiva's eyes and his frustration with his circumstances are very real. Srikanth, as the clear-cut "engineer-prototype" does well.

Satyan's turn as the Silencer brings plenty of laughs, especially with his speech on Teacher's Day.

Sathyaraj is more of a caricature, although he does redeem himself in certain moments and during the climax. Still, his character could have done with some more depth.
Ileana, despite having a couple of laugh-out-loud moments towards the end, is just eye-candy. There's no real purpose to her role.

Except for Ask Laska (picturised in tongue-in-cheek fashion) and perhaps En Frienda Pola, Harris Jeyaraj's music is largely unappealing. T Muthuraj's art work fits the bill, while Manoj Paramahamsa's camera work is slick, neat, and most importantly, non-intrusive.

The editing could do with some finesse too. At more than three hours, Anthony could definitely have wielded his scissors better.

The dialogues, written by Shankar and Karky, falter at times but scrape through even if they carry a good many platitudes.

You do see shades of the Hindi remake, but it has Shankar's touches as well.

Logic does go for a toss at times; there are moments when everything is too syrupy-sweet. The pace is jerky, and the voice-overs don't really serve much purpose.

And yet, it offers hope, and the promise of everything turning out good in the end. It's perfect feel-good fare. And Vijay is at his best. Worth a watch.

Video Review



Review 2

Ilayathalapathy Vijay’s Nanban is the remake of Bollywood blockbuster ’3 Idiots’ by Rajkumar Hirani. Jeeva and Srikanth play the other pivotal roles.

In the original, the male lead characters was done by Aamir Khan, R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi while the female lead was played by Karina Kapoor.


Story
Nanban is Shankar’s version of ’3 Idiots’ all the way. Panjavan Pari Velan(Vijay) joins the engineering college as first year student, in short he was called as Pari. At a ragging scenario with seniors he meets Senthil(Jeeva) and Venkat Ramakrishnan(Srikanth) in the Hostel permises. He takes out the situation in a clever and funny manner which attracts other first year students and soon the 3 become close friends.

Then enters Virumaandi Sandhanam(Sathyaraj) is short called as Virus, is the Principal of the college who wants everyone to be disciplined and stay in Order. But Pari(Vijay) is a student who doesn’t take anything seriously at all and goes in his own way with the quote that ‘All is Well’, this irks Virus during their first meet itself.

Meanwhile there they meet Srivatsan(Sathyan) who is nicknamed as Silencer, who appears to be a bookworm and always tries to degrade the three friends.

Then the family stories behind Senthil(Jeeva) and Venkat Ramakrishnan(Srikanth) are shown with sentiments in a funny manner. Senthil is a innocent guy who likes to have fun, but because of his poor family background he tries hard to study well by avoiding college fun.

Venkat who has a passion for Photography does engineering to fulfill his parent’s desire. These three at one funny circumstance secretly attends a wedding to fill their stomach, where Pari meets Anariya(Ileana) and finds out that it the daughter of Virus. Later Pari comes to know that Anariya was engaged with a self-centered person.

But soon things change and Pari(Vijay) and Anariya(Ileana) fall in love. And Pari finishes his graduation and all depart in their own ways. In the later second half when Senthil and Venkat try to get hold of Pari, Pari goes missing there comes twist in the story. Then finally whether Anariya(Ileana) joins with Pari(Vijay) or not forms the rest of the story.

Performance
It is all show of Vijay, the actor has worked hard to fit into the main role as Pari. He has given a matured and natural performance, but Jeeva and Srikanth are the two pillars which lifts up the role of Pari played by Vijay. After Kaavalan this will be Vijay’s character oriented role and even at certain scenes brings out your emotions.

Adding glamour to Vijay’s role is Ileana, the actress who got introduced with Tamil film Kedi was missing because of her rise in Tollywood. But now this will mark her presence in Kollywood too with her charming and sexy perfromance. Also Anuya comes as the elder sister of Ileana.

Sathyaraj as the principal goes in topgear with his acting skills and suits the role to utmost perfection. Whereas Sathyan who also comes from the family of Sathyaraj proves that he is not less than him with his witty plans and modulation he scores well as the irritating Silencer.

Analysis
Director Shankar has put his whole effort in Nanban to give credits to the original version ’3 idiots’ and the director succeeds in that once again. Even though his 10th film is a remake, he has narrated with his own style of film-making which gives a fresh feel to the movie. Music by Harris Jayaraj needs special mention, all the songs are exotically visualised and Harris has given a pleasant Background Score too.

Cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa and Art by T Muthuraj are added advantages to the film’s narration. Technically the film is brilliant. The only thing is the slow pace in screenplay but it gives you that feel only for a few moments. Wholly Nanban is an out and out family entertainer with a clean U certificate.

Verdict
If you want to Celebrate this pongal in a pleasant manner with friends and family then Nanban is the perfect choice. It has all the ingredients of a Shankar’s film, with a huge star cast like Vijay, Jeeva, Srikanth, Ileana, Sathyaraj, Sathyan. Nanban is sure to entertain your family and friends.