Naan Mahaan Alla - Sify Review

Suseenthiran is a director who believes that filmmaking is all about breaking new grounds, braving new frontiers and building new idioms. He does not believe in regurgitating old wine. The guy has come with a rocker of a film Naan Mahaan Alla, which is refreshingly fresh, innovative and packaged in a breezy manner within the commercial format.

There is something new about the story telling and packaging which makes it interesting along with a power packed performance by Karthi, who carries the film to its winning point. It is perfect team work of Suseenthiran, Karthi, promising set of newcomers, dialogue writer Baskar Sakthi, Yuvan, Rajeevan and Anal Arasu, which makes the film engrossing and racy.

The director has neatly worked out the script, as first half is for characterisation and the second half the audience roots for the hero, which makes the climax believable. The film begins with four pot smoking college students, molesting and murdering a girl on a lonely beach.

Cut to hero introduction scene, as Jeeva (Karthi) is shown celebrating wildly New Year with his friends. He is a nice guy who will do anything for his friends and family consisting of his father (Jayaprakash) a call taxi driver, mother (Lakshmi) and a sister. He has a way with neighbours, kids and people in the low income colony where he lives, and they all adore him.

One day at a friend’s wedding he meets a girl Pooja (Kajal Aggarwal), with whom he strikes an instant rapport which develops into love. Jeeva being a straightforward, no nonsense guy barges into her house and asks her father, a criminal lawyer for her hand, which leads to trouble. Meanwhile Jeeva’s life gets more complicated as his father gets murdered, by the same gang seen in the beginning of the film. Life changes for Jeeva, as he goes in search of his father’s killers, leading to a stunning climax on a lonely beach.

What an impact Karthi makes in his fourth film. He nails the character to perfection and does everything a super hero does in Tamil films without making it look larger-than-life on screen. He is one good reason to see the film. Jayaprakash is growing in stature in character roles, and here as father he is simply too good, the bonding scenes between him and Karthi are fantastic.

Kajal Aggarwal and Karthi’s on screen chemistry crackles and she is charming though her role is limited. The casting of unknown newcomers especially the four mean and diabolic guys who knows no fear and the chap who plays the Royapuram dada is apt. The film has no separate comedy track or comedians. Still Karthi brings the house down with some good comedy especially the scenes in which he turns as a bill collection agent and the scene where Priya’s father invites him to a bar to actually give him a warning.

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music (Irgai Pole is the pick) and background score is spellbinding. Rajeevan’s sets of lower income group flats, houses destroyed by Tsunami on the beaches where climax takes place, makes the background look so real. Anal Arasu’s climax action choreography keeps the adrenaline pumping.

NMA reinvents the staple formula but stands out for its sheer style, speed and story-telling methods. Three cheers to Suseenthiran and his team.

Verdict- Go for it!