NAAN SIGAPPU MANITHAN MOVIE REVIEW

The first ten minutes of Naan Sigappu Manithan (NSM) paint a gritty picture with its serious tone in both scripting and execution – where cinematographer Richard Nathan and composer GV Prakash make a pronounced statement with their respective crafts. Director Thiru follows up these opening segments with a warm-hearted first half where he sets up the concept of Narcolepsy and fleshes out his characters around it. The true grave nature of the film is augmented again from around the half way mark and Thiru, along with Richard Nathan and GV Prakash, maintains the same consistency of the first 10 minutes.

Naan Sigappu Manithan is essentially a revenge drama where the hero is required to overcome his own problems first before he could set out to settle scores.

As the sympathetic Indran, Vishal picks yet another role, after Pandiyanadu, where the audience will root for him and he makes the most of it with a neat performance. His character gets a boost from Thiru’s writing which presents Vishal with some ‘mass’ moments such as his methods to counter his incurable disorder. The fact that Lakshmi Menon is approached for a role of such strength and importance speaks volumes of her acting potential as much as it defines her choice of scripts.

NSM also provides good scope for its supporting cast members. Jagan with his high strike rate comic retorts, Sunder Ramu, Saranya, Iniya, the menacing villainous group which hunts like a pack of wolves and Jayaprakash who plays a stern father add to the viewing interest.

Thiru’s screenplay is mostly well intended as he successfully draws the audience into Indran’s world and outlines the map for a gripping drama in the second half. But while the big twist does send some shockwaves, the resulting sub-plot feels like an add-on which the story could have survived without. In addition to adding to the run time, the stretched sub-plot also takes away some of the film’s grip and adds a reason for the film’s U/A certificate. The violence quotient is also moderately high.

GV Prakash’s numbers despite its non-commercial nature, are arresting with its pleasant melodies and interesting picturization. The songs suffer because of bad placements though. Editor Ruben keeps the overall flow of proceedings in check even if they don’t exactly race along. Dilip Subbarayan choreographs some good street chase sequences while the tense climax fight is credited to Thai stunt master Pradit Seelum.

Despite minor moments where the script deviates from its USP, Naan Sigappu Manithan pulls through as a pretty tense drama that ticks the commercial requirements.