Review – Nenjil Thunivirunthal

Review
Film : Nenjil Thunivirunthal
Cast : Sundeep Kishen, Mehreen Pirzada,  Vikranth, Soori, Appukutty, Harosh Uththaman,  Sathiga, Arul
Foss , Dileepam and others
Director: Suseenthiran
Music: D Imman
Cinematography : J Laxman

Director  Suseenthiran,  known for making good, meaningful  films,   delivers yet another action thriller that not only entertains but also educates.

The film seeks to drive home the point that there is more to what meets the eye when it comes to motives for  crimes that we see being committed everyday.

Kumar (Sundeep Kishen), a youngster who is on the verge of completing  his Master’s programme in Management, runs a catering  business along with a number  of his friends  including  Mahesh (Vikranth), Ramesh ( Soori)  and Seenu (Appukutty).

Kumar has a younger sister Anuradha (Sathiga) who is studious and studies medicine in a prestigious  medical  college.

While Kumar trusts  his friend Mahesh, his  mother (Thulasi) dislikes Mahesh as  she suspects he harbours intentions of marrying her daughter.Kumar,  however, allays her fears saying that he trusts his friend.

Unknown to Kumar, Mahesh and Anuradha are actually  in a relationship. But then, it is not Mahesh who would have  convinced  Anuradha to fall in love with him but Anuradha who, through her persistence,  would have got him to agree to fall in love with her. In fact, Mahesh, who would have initially  proposed  to Anuradha, would have changed his mind after becoming  friends  with her brother. But Anuradha would have been impressed by his sincerity to his friend and would have begun loving him.

As Mahesh feels guilty about  being in a relationship  with his friend’s  sister without  his knowledge, he tells Anuradha that they should  confess their love to  Kumar. Anuradha, however, is not okay with this idea and says she requires time to break the news to her brother. She  promises to tell her brother everything about them to him  in another 10 days time. Mahesh reluctantly agrees.

A few days pass. Meanwhile, Mahesh, who has a  short  temper and is known to question  injustice,   begins  to pick up  Anuradha from college and drop her home without his friend’s knowledge.

One evening, when Anuradha is waiting for Mahesh to pick her up in college,  her mother finds out about her  love affair with Mahesh. In a fit of rage, she calls up her son Kumar and asks him to come home with Anuradha. So, Kumar picks up his sister and begins to ride back home when suddenly a bunch of assailants block and attack them. Just when one of the assailants  is about to kill Kumar, he gets a call saying they have the wrong person  and that they should let the two go. The attack is stopped and the brother and sister are allowed to go.

Anuradha heaves a sigh of relief that the assailants have  let them go but Kumar is worried as he knows that  the reason they let them go was because they were expecting his friend Mahesh instead of him. Why were these people trying to kill his friend?

He begins to investigate and soon finds himself dealing  with notorious criminals who are masters at  murdering people  and diverting attention…

Suseenthiran, as always,  gives a detailed picture  of how   criminals in real life operate. He seems to have done  quite a bit of research into how organised gangs commit crimes and has used this knowledge in the creation of his story.The manner in which anti social elements study the situation and the compelling circumstances of their victims well before planning an attack and carrying it out is beautifully brought forth in this film.

Criminals are often portrayed as bullies with brute  strength  and no brains but Suseenthiran fashions his villains in exactly the same manner that one would come across in real life.

The struggle between Kumar and Durai Pandi (Harish Uththaman) is as much physical as it is mental with both individuals looking to analyse each other’s circumstances and  exploit the weaknesses that a given situation may bring upon their opponents.

Harish  Uththaman is brilliant as the ruthless, yet calculative goon and gang leader Durai.  He delivers a very commendable performance as has Vikranth as Mahesh and Sundeep as Kumar.

Sathiga, who plays Anuradha,  and Mehreen, who plays Janani, also do justice to their roles.

Suseenthiran’s trusted cameraman Laxman doesn’t disappoint as the visuals are striking and realistic.  Imman’s background score for the film is brilliant but the songs really don’t  add value to the the film. In fact, they slow the pace of the film by a big margin.

The first half of the film is slow and tedious but it picks  up pace right before the interval . From that point on,  there is no looking back as the story  moves at breakneck speed, keeping  audiences  hooked  on to the screen.

The final verdict is that Nenjil Thunivirundhal is yet another good film from a quality director.