This film garnered mounted expectations primarily due to maestro’s music and Gautham Vasudev Menon’s date with romance yet another time after he had some forgettable Bollywood and Kollywood outings (‘Ek Deewana Tha’ and ‘Nadunisi Naigal’) in the past 2 years. I am afraid that he should try and forget this one too as it can be easily passed off as the director’s most futile attempt at movie making that turned the movie on its head right from the word go.
NEP traces the romance between the lead pair of Nithya (Samantha) and Varun (Jiiva) right from their childhood until their adulthood. In all the stages, there is a breakup and reunion. A similar story-line was narrated by director Aishwarya Rajinikanth in the movie ‘3’ only a while back and so there were very many parallels that could be drawn, barring the fact that both the movies ended on a different note altogether!
There was not a single flaw that can be pointed out but there were many, including the aimless screenplay, redundant expressions from the lead pair, placement of songs, characterization and long monologues that lacked any punch or fizz. These are some samples - Samantha’s character often gets cheesed off without understanding Jiiva’s psyche and that too being a psychology student. Jiiva prepares for CAT in 2 months and gets through IIM (must be a really brilliant chap!). The movie was marketed with a tagline that ‘this could be your love story’ - but the above scenes just don't connect even with today’s youth!
Apart from that, I felt that many scenes were rehashed from ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya’ and the costumes for the lead pair - a neatly pressed T-shirt or shirt for Jiiva and a cotton kurta or saree for Samantha reminded us of so many cliches right from Gautham’s ‘Kaakha Kaakha’ days.
Santhaanam, once again was roped in for the sole purpose to rejuvenate the audience and save them from the ongoing debauchery and he had given his best shot.
The rest of the cast including Anupama Kumar and Ravi Raghavendra were used as pawns and I can only feel sorry for them.
Anthony, the editor must be the saddest guy as he would have spent hours together watching these scenes over and again and did little to make it crisp. Almost half the auditorium was empty towards the climax and I was able to see groups of people leaving the place in a huff every now and then.
Ilayaraja’s music sounded great in my iPod, but was forgettable on screen. This was the most insipid ‘song picturization’ I have ever seen for a Gautham Menon movie.
MS Prabhu and Om Prakash have done the usual wide angle, top angle and close-up shots that is a signature for most Gautham films.
Overall the movie was an attempt at soaking caramel popcorn in chocolate sauce and feeding it. Imagine the sogginess of the corn and the fate of the consumer!
Gautham, its high time that you resurrect your ‘Thuppariyum Anand’ or ‘Yohaan’ and provide a non-stop action blockbuster with a salable star in order to stay afloat!
Verdict: Stay Away!
Rating: 1.5/5
.jpg)