Another delayed review, firstly due to a delay in watching the movie because of limited screen releases and secondly due to a hectic week that pulled and tested every nerve on my body.
Coming back to Neram - a bilingual, released in Malayalam and Tamil, had managed to gather a pre-release buzz even with a whole new cast and crew, thanks to its distributor, Udhayanidhi Stalin and a viral music video on the lead pair that got them accolades even before they acted in the movie.
According to the debut director Alphonse Puthran, Neram (Time) is of two types - Nalla Neram (Good Time) and Ketta Neram (Bad Time)! So our protagonist (Nivin Pauly) is having a hard time due to recession by losing his job and then to make ends meet gets a loan from the merciless money lender, ‘Vatti’ Raja (Simha). Meanwhile his personal life also seems to be torn to tatters. At the end he is saved due to certain circumstances thanks to a series of events that brings his fortunes and also a happy ending!
As with every new breed filmmaker, Alphonse Puthran has once again pushed the bar high with respect to storytelling and other technicalities like sound and cinematography. The script was quite gripping and had a whacky feel to it with out-of-the-box dialog delivery and body language from so many from the supporting cast. The story happens within a certain time frame in a day and also the director had to narrate a complete script within that time which was a daunting task. The challenge was taken and dealt head on.
Every scene in the movie appeared to be cliched but added a zing to it due to a spice-up either during the beginning of the scene or at the end. Slap stick in the comedy has been largely employed to bring out the laughter.
Nivin Pauly and Nazriya Nazim simply resemble a made-for-each-other couple! They enjoyed a crackling chemistry with very little screen time to establish their love. Nazriya Nazim was not only an eye-candy but performed her role with grace and glitter.
Simha as Vatti Raja, played a perfect villain’s role and would have been keenly noted by the Kollywood A-list for more such roles!
The supporting cast of Thambi Ramaiah, Nassar, John Vijay and Ananth Nag were adding strength and depth to the narrative and made the movie to briskly progress without any lag.
Music by Rajesh Murugesan was fresh and lively, especially the ‘Gaana’ number, “Pistaahhh....”
Cinematography by Anand C. Chandran was awesome as the colors were natural and blended with the happenings as is. The songs were picturized in a lively fashion as well and the angles pleased the eye more often than not!
Editing by the director himself was largely convincing except that he has exploited the slow-motion technique a tad too much and sometimes it brings in a rehashed feel to the narrative! Also the “Pistahh...” song appearing twice in the movie is sort of a dampener.
The movie can be watched for its novel narrative, comedy and a package that would draw family audiences to the theaters once again.
Verdict: Above Average
Rating: 3/5
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