Huffingtonpost website might have pusblished articles such
as 27 things to do before age of 30 and 30 things to watch before the age of
30. If I had a similar list, the top 3 things to have done before reaching the
age of 30 (reaching 30 this year), would be certainly to see the release of
“Idhu namma aalu” (INA). The movie that started in 2013, should have seen its
release in late 2014 itself. However, due to many post production delays, the
film has seen light only in 2016. Probably “Thalli pogathey” would have been inspired
from this.
Strengths
- Perfect casting. Simbu-Nayan combination is the highlight of the film. Paandiraj’s convincing story narration over the phone to Nayanthara was so persuasive that she said “okay” to this film (I wonder what was so convincing.) Nevertheless, kudos to director to have roped in the best artistes of today’s Tamil cinema- either it be Soori for the comic relief, Andrea as the first love, parents’ roles done by senior actors/actresses- all were top-notch selection.
- · Acting- no over-acting at all by anyone. Even simbu didn’t attempt it. Nayanthara’s screen presence added picture-perfect flavor to the flow of the story with Andrea’s natural flair for acting peppering the screen with additional spices.
- · Editing- I liked those phone shots where the other person’s phone screen appeared. It sort of gave us the feeling that we were part of the scene. Engaging stuff. Great work, editor!
- · Cinematography and art direction- Use of myriad colours- either it be the costumes, the houses, the set properties, everything was just so vibrant and colorful, undoubtedly a visual buffet for the audience.
- · Comic relief- Bravo, Soori! Usually I find his roles/acting quite a hindrance to the story in other films, but in this movie, he did his job effortlessly well that I actually wanted to see more of Soori on the screen. His presence throughout the film was another strength.
- · Ripley’s believe it-or-not: Soori and Simbu had no drinking, smoking scene or any folk song to degrade women or to insult the girlfriends, their mothers or periyammas. Even though some of simbu’s dialogues were along the lines of “intha ponnugale ippadi thaan”, it was still reasonable and acceptable because it was simbu. What else, can he speak about then?
- · Music- Hey not bad man! This kuralarasan, sago (bro in tamil and that’s how soori and simbu address each other in the film which will become a trend in the future) of simbu has potential! He has tried all different genres and has succeeded to a certain extent in melody- kathaga vanthu ponnu and kuthu song- Maman waiting. However, BGM needs to improve big time, sago!
- · For a pencil-thin storyline (aiyo “pencil” these days remind me of GV Prakash, anyway life has to move on) and limited number of characters, dialogues must be the biggest plus. And director pandiraj has exceptionally done well in that area. Special mention to be given to simbu for allowing everyone in the film to make fun of him. Dialogues by Soori, poking fun at simbu, is a must-watch. One such example was the conservations between simbu and nayan about giving names for their children were hilarious.
nayan: enna peru vaikalaam?
simbu: aishwarya, shruti, arti eppadi yethaachu.
nayan: arya, danush, simbu eppadiyum vaikalaam.
soori: anga paaru avan avan ex-lover peraa solraan.
Weakness:
- · If the 1st half was a decent breezy entertainer, the second half is ought to kill you with school-drama-standard twists and turns that put “saravana meenatchi” to shame. For those who don’t know what is saravana meenatchi, it was a serial telecasted in Vijay tv that started when my great-grandmother had her first child and my granny’s wishlist was to see the drama end in her lifetime. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Miss you granny!
- · Just like how we don’t know who meenatchi loves and desires to marry in the serial, nayanthara in the film displays confusion. Initially, simbu likes nayan but she doesn’t. Then they are ok. Because simbu asks about nayan’s past love, they quarrel. In the 2nd half, it gets solved. But the in-laws quarrel over a petty issue, then more quarrels and fights and misunderstandings. Shappa!!
- · To add to the confusion, ex-lovers of simbu and nayan along with simbu and nayan all meet at a restaurant, but there is a twist there. Oh gosh, I am still alive!!
- · Lack of screen space or rather the placement of both heroines in the story made it look more like nayan did a guest appearance in the first half and andrea in the 2nd half.
- · Phone conversations between nayanthara and simbu were lovely to watch. But the repetition became a bore.
- · As much as the dialogues were the strength, too much of it seemed like a stage drama!
- · There was a cameo dance performance by his sago Kuralarasan. And I thought that was a good twist. Later realised that it was not sago Kural but simbu indeed. The “maman waiting” song probably was filmed last week. Simbu looked extremely different compared to how he looked, in the rest of the film.
- · With such a rare combo of Simbu and Nayan, more work could and should have been done to the story and screenplay. Probably Nayan may not act with him anymore. Heard news that nayanthara was suppose to have danced for “maman waiting”. However she disagreed because she didn’t want to waste her callsheet as simbu wasted her days by coming late for shoot. So having said that, director could have brought out the best from them with a bolder script. There was so much to explore in such an interesting courtship period!! Vadai poche, sir!
So, overall, how was idhu namma aalu?
In jodi no 1 judge radha’s lingo,
1st half: adi dhool-u
2nd half: vellithirayil oru chinna
thirai (never-ending one)
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