'Naiyaandi'- Formula Comedy Film

Seriously, it is about time they did something about the voice-over thing. It was nice initially, but having to hear the same voice explain the same characters (a happy-go-lucky, irresponsible hero with no job or known source of money) and his friends (played by the same actors) in almost every other film is becoming a tad boring. People don’t get tired of comedy, but, the format needs to be looked into.

Dhanush says, "Talk to the hand" to Nazriya
(The pre-release poster of 'Naiyaandi')

‘Naiyaandi’

Director: Sarkunam

Cast: Dhanush, Nazriya Nazim, Sriram, Sathyan and others

Dhanush is Kutti Vandu, the youngest of three sons, all of whom are unmarried. The eldest is 40, the next is 38 and, we are told by the voice-over guy that Dhanush is 24. All of them are involved in the family business of making kuthu vilakku, the auspicious lamps. Danush falls in love with a dentist who is convinced that in order to be a cute heroine, one has to act like a mentally retarded person (no offense or insult intended to those genuinely suffering from the disorder). Fortunately, this time she didn’t repeat the ‘Raja Rani’ facial gymnastics.

Her father is a very strict and rich man who dotes on her. It is surprising how someone who cares so much for his daughter would pick a gangster for a son-in-law. So, on the eve of her engagement, which also happens to be her birthday, she elopes with the hero, gets secretly married to him, and enters his household as a shop accountant (There is a scene in which she canvases a foreigner woman to place an order for a church bell. The foreigner talks in simple English while the heroine overdoes a fake call-center American accent).

The hero’s unmarried brothers get smitten by her and vie with each other to impress her, not knowing that she is their sister-in-law. One actually feels sorry for them. Eventually when they find out that she is pregnant with the youngest brother’s child, the family comes to know the truth. Since the heroine’s would-have-been husband is a gangster, there has to be a chase-&-fight sequence at the end. Eventually, everything ends well.

The film made mild controversy when Nazriya filed a complaint with the police saying that the filmmakers were trying to force her to get glamorous. It then turns out that she was also objecting to the fact that they had used body double in some of the scenes.

Things that went wrong with the film:

Zero chemistry between the hero and heroine

Very forgettable songs

Comedy that makes one cringe

Overacting on the part of the hero’s mother

The background score

Things that didn’t go wrong:

Dhanush and Soori

After this film, it is highly unlikely that Nazriya Nazim will be seen in Tamil films. She is better suited for Malayalam and might as well continue there. There is lot of difference between the “bubbly” heroine characters played by her and, say, Genelia. Sometimes Genelia wanted to make you strangle yourself when she did the “bubbly” roles, but there was chemistry and warm vibes between her and the hero. That made her films watchable. Nazriya looks very fake.  Also, she looks good in some angles and less-than-average in plenty others.