IDHU NAMMA AALU MOVIE REVIEW

Director Pandiraj who is hitherto known for handling children’s stories or making films with a rural background has attempted an urban love subject with Idhu Namma Aalu (INA) that entertains to a large extent, thanks to Simbu, Nayanthara, Soori and the dialogues of Pandiraj.

Although making its arrival a little late, INA does not lose its topicality as the subject of love can never go outdated in Kollywood.

INA opens a little differently with the detailed credits given to the music department led by Simbu’s brother Kuralarasan who is making his debut as music composer. Once the story begins, we are given a description of life of IT professionals by Arjun. This in fact brings in a lot of laughter.

Pandiraj’s INA is about the love life of Simbu, a techie in Chennai. Soori, his friend from childhood, for the simple reason of not being able to stay away from him, latches on to him as his two-wheeler driver.

For Simbu, this role is just like a walk in the park and the actor delivers it with his trademark style. The same thing holds good for Nayanthara too. Andrea is a cute doll. The supporting cast of Jaiprakash, Udhay Mahesh, Deepa Ramanujam and Rajesh are adept in their portrayals. Jai makes a brief cameo.

It is sportive of Simbu to have given a go ahead to the director to bring in a lot of dialogues suggestive of his real life persona. Examples being ‘enakku nadikkavae theriyaadhu, ethanai vaatti daa love pannuvae’ to name a few. Simbu also retorts finally saying 'ellaarum en love a vechu comedy panreenga'.

To reiterate, dialogues of INA are one of its strong points with Pandiraj playing them with effortless ease. Added to that Soori taking the responsibility of upping the cheer at the theatre, has worked well for the film. His timing and punches are hilarious. Post interval, Soori brings the roof down with his statutory warning on liquor drinking too. Santhanam does an effective cameo in his trademark style.

Cellphone plays an integral character in the film with all the cast members using the communication device incessantly and also by the director to move his story forward. That said, the portions involving Simbu and Nayan talking in their phone for a very long time bring in the lag moments of the film. It gets tiresome after a while.  

When we think the film is complete, Pandiraj plants a roadblock which finds its way to get resolved. The ensuing scenes bring down the engaging quotient.

We see ‘bro’ being replaced by Sagaa which may soon find many users. There are a few features in INA which we see in most of the films these days. It is almost like a list of important things to be ticked. One is the Ajith reference and the other being ‘indha ponnungalae ippadi dhaan’ dialogues. INA also has them.

A film with Simbu cannot go without the star showing his dancing skills. Therefore, we have the Maaman Waiting number where the hero dances to his heart’s content with Adha Sharma. But one wonders what is the relevance of this song in the film at all.

Balasubramaniem’s camera work is stylish and vibrant while Prem Navas’s set designs are trendy. Kuralarasan’s music tracks are functional but for Kaathaga Vantha Ponnu. He could have concentrated a little more on the BGM for the emotional sequences; otherwise a decent debut.

Summing it up, Idhu Namma Aalu is a light hearted film that entertains mostly and may find a lot of takers in the youth sector.