NERUNGI VA MUTHAMIDATHE MOVIE REVIEW

The title of the second film of Lakshmy Ramakrishnan sure evokes curiosity and raises a few eyebrows too. In her first film Aarohanam, it was about bi-polar disorder but in her second film, Lakshmy chooses a different terrain which is kind of a road flick that has a few stories running parallelly only to have its convergence at an interesting point.

Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathey (NVM) is about the events that unfold in totally unconnected lives on a day when the state suffers from petrol/diesel crisis. Although on the surface of it, it might appear that the scarcity of liquid gold is the premise, the director has in fact woven other topical and important issues that plague the society in a very subtle but pithy fashion.

NVM opens with a dimly lit frame when someone emerges from the waters and spots the police and jumps into the sand.  And then the film shifts to a different locale where laborers are working hard in an onion godown to transfer the stock to a lorry on a day when petrol and diesel are out of stock and life is paralyzed. Lakshmy then introduces her characters. 

If you go by the norm that someone who appears in the maximum frames in the film is the lead, then, in NVM, it is the lorry that newcomer Shabeer drives, will easily climb up to that spot. 

Shabeer who makes his debut as Chandru is on an assignment of driving the heavy vehicle from Trichy to Karaikal port. This simple, harmless task takes on a different form on the journey. There are quite a few people he encounters on the way whose stories make up the proceedings of NVM.

In his journey, Shabeer comes across Thambi Ramiah, Shruthi Hariharan and her lover and then Pia. And then we get to know the life of Shabeer himself and his family. A nice thing about NVM is that the songs are finely inserted that propel the story forward. In that breath, they are no protraction. The flashbacks are also crisply cut although there are quite a few. Madley Blues’ BGM is apt and gives the right feel. 

Gang rape is something brutal but Lakshmy has touched upon it in a very positive manner. Her outlook on this issue is pertinent. Similarly the interpersonal relationships between a mom and a daughter, a dad and his son are deftly handled without being preachy. The perspective is indeed mature. And there is also the issue of caste that affects a couple in love.

There are twists here and there that pep up the progress of the story like the way Shabeer handles an important situation or about the characterization of Thambi Ramiah.  The knots are untangled towards the climax in a lucid fashion. Even though the aspect of treason has been mentioned, Lakshmy could have elaborated on it a bit to give a better impact. 

The cast has done the job in an understanding manner. The huge list of supporting cast includes many experienced hands like AL Azhagappan, Thambi Ramaiah, Y Gee Mahendra, Kavithalaya Krishnan, Ambica, Bala Saravanan, Thalaivasal Vijay, Viji Chandrashekar and many more. Lakshmy also makes a very short cameo. Shruthi Hariharan of Luciya fame does not have much of screen space and Piaa Bajpai renders a different portrayal from her earlier characters.

On the flip side, the movie doesn’t give complete satisfaction, perhaps the dialogues could  have been better or few of the melodramatic moments could have been canned better. Its one of those movies which you leave the theatre feeling it could have been better.

In all, Lakshmy should be appreciated for taking on a subject and adhering to its elements sincerely rather than leaning towards unnecessary appendages in a flick that runs in a crisp duration of one hour and fifty four minutes.