INIDHU INIDHU MOVIE REVIEW

Starring: Adith Narayan, Vimal Saran, Reshmi, Bennas, Sonia, Gia Umar.
Direction: K.V. Guhan
Music: Mickey J Meyer
Production: Prakash Raj

The trade-in of movies across the sub-continent ensures that we, as viewers, get the best of both worlds. But often the question remains whether the remade movies prove to be as successful as their original counterparts. Inidhu Inidhu, produced by Prakash Raj’s Duet Movies, is the remake of the Telugu super hit college movie Happy Days. A feel good flick, it remains earnest to the original script and successfully evokes nostalgia in a particular age group while keeping up with the sentiments of the college-going audience.

The movie is essentially strung together with beads of incidents of college years: accidental friendships, blossoming love, undercurrents of jealousy that largely arise out of competitiveness in studies and real life, peer pressures and so on. It’s as if you have stepped into a college for about two hours to witness the goings-on with a sense of déjà vu.

Inidhu Inidhu is set in an engineering college and follows the lives of a gang of students during the course of their studies – four years. They are absolute strangers when they start out but as they are thrown in together in unfamiliar surroundings, the quintessential college friendship sprouts that stay on for the four significant years of their lives.

As a result, there is no definite storyline in the movie. The incidents, although do not mar the flow, also prove to be reason for tedium to set in. But, thankfully, the script spruces itself often with a little twist here and a turn there resulting in swiftness in the pace.

Few incidents do set the tone of the movie: asking for directions to a department, a friendship is stumbled upon, a hyper lover boy begs for a smooch from his love-interest only to be caught red-handed by her father that almost costs him his only budding romance, an unrelenting love with a senior that surprisingly doesn’t go overboard and hence not stereotyped and the sacrifices in studies for the sake of friendships. The English professor, who receives unmanageable attention owing to her fair skin and her flair for the language leaves an indelible presence of college life in the movie. The delightfully bright costumes also play pivotal role in bringing the college setting close-to-life. Each frame is multi-hued and hence makes for a pleasurable viewing experience. So are the locations, albeit set in a college, are scenic.

Thankfully lots of emotional scenes in the movie are not dramatically enacted; most of it is left unsaid and hence understood by the audience, which is often the best way of story telling. For instance, there is no exchange of love between the lovers but the undercurrents are strong that it’s written all over the actors.

On the downside, there are chances that the movie might only attract a particular age group of college-goers who tend to relate to it. Although a strong sense of déjà vu is prevailing throughout the movie, it’s hard not to feel slothful sitting through hence it’s only a depiction of incidents with no drama whatsoever. That could have made the pace brisker.

Besides, music in general, background score and the songs, is just passé and none of the songs stands out. Camerawork is pretty straightforward since the cameraman had not taken any strain for imaginative angles.

On the other hand, if you are looking to be teleported back to your college days for a couple of hours or so, Inidhu Inidhu will come in as handy. It’s a feel good movie. But if you are already in college, you will only need half a reason to watch this.

Verdict: Feel-good nostalgia, with its pitfalls!