Gautham Vasudev Menon has tried a different genre with Nadunisi Naaygal. It is a psycho thriller that takes place one night in the life of a psychopath with multiple personalities.
It is bizarre and deals with the quirky side of human behaviour. The film moves at a rapid pace with running time of under two hours.
Don’t go expecting a typical Gautham romantic film laced with peppy songs, be prepared to try out something new and experimental. Be warned that there are no songs and background music; still it gives you the Goosebumps.
Gautham wants to shock his core audiences by doing a film in a genre that is alien to him. NN seems to be Gautham’s ode to Bharathiraja’s Kamal Haasan classic Sigappu Rojakkal (1978). The basic story is similar to a certain extent, but treatment and setting are modern.
Samar aka Veera (Veera) a psychopath and the protagonist of the film traces his life from the age of eight to 20. After his mother passed away at tender age of eight, he sees his father indulging in sexual orgies and a bohemian way of life and also gets sexually abused.
A beautiful, kind neighbour Meenakshi (Swapna Abraham) takes pity on him and reports to police the going on’s and takes custody of the young boy after his father commits suicide. But the animal instincts in the boy grows with him and leads to a dangerous situation.
The highlight of the film is the performances of the lead artists. Gautham’s casting is the major plus of the movie. For a first timer, Veera as the psychopath with split personality makes a lasting impression in a well-written role. He is riveting and holds the film together with his performance. Swapna who plays Meenakshi has come out with a stunning lifelike performance. Sameera as the feisty, frightened and helpless girl Sukanya is very good.
The film is technically chic. The camera work of Manoj Paramahamsa is awesome as most of the story happens in the night. His camera has made the film visually appealing along with Antony’s fast cuttings.
On the downside, the film looks more like it has been made for an elite multiplex audiences as camera movement and narration is typical Hollywood in style and technique. The film is definitely not for the family audiences, and in fact some of the scenes are Squamish and are a bit too explicit.
There are too many loopholes in the story, raising doubts about logic and how come the psychopath living in such a huge bungalow with no servants, did not raise any suspicion in the neighbourhood or among the cops.
On the whole, Gautham Menon has tried out a psycho thriller without using eerie music or special effects. Don’t miss it if you’re a fan of urban, psycho thrillers – this is as good as they come!