Selvaraagavan, elder brother of Dhanush, made his official debut as a director in the psycho-thriller Kaadhal Konndain in 2003 and returns to that genre in his latest film, Naane Varuvaen. Dhanush plays a dual role for the third time in his career, with Selvaraagavan making an important cameo. The rest of the cast includes Prabhu, Swedish-Greek actress Elli Avram, Indhuja Ravichandran, Hiya Davey, Yogi Babu, Aajeedh Khalique, Shelly Kishore and Saravana Subbiah and child stars Sylvensten and Frankensten.
Like any thriller, the less one knows about the plot, the better the enjoyment of the film, so this review will give just the bare minimum of the plot without any spoilers.
Prabhu and Kathir (played by Sylvensten and Frankensten respectively) are twins but vastly different from each other. When Kathir assaults the neighbour’s child, the events that follow reveal a disturbing side to his personality quite beyond the control of his parents. Years later, Prabhu is now an adult, happily married to Bhuvana – played by Indhuja Ravichandran – and the couple have a daughter, Sathya, played by Hiya Davey. As Sathya grows older, she begins to exhibit disturbing behaviour that initially points to schizophrenia. How her parents deal with this and the ensuing challenges form the rest of Naane Varuvaen.
Like any good psycho-thriller, the film takes a disturbing look into the mind of a mentally disturbed person and the way they view the world. The first half has an unrushed pace that provides essential information to understand the events to follow but the tension lingers throughout the first half.
This tension increases dramatically into the second half when the audience is transported into the world of the adult Kathir. The tension is further accentuated by the outstanding music score by Yuvanshankar Raja and the jaw-dropping cinematography of Om Prakash with the brilliance of editor Bhuvan Srinivasan.
Dhanush is electrifying in his performance, playing Prabhu and Kathir, obviously shining brighter in his portrayal of Kathir. If nothing else, the film demonstrates the vast repertoire of his acting talents. Hiya Davey in the role of Sathya is mesmerising with the intensity of her performance. Prabhu, playing a psychiatrist makes a solid contribution. Indhuja Ravichandran and Elli Avram have the bare minimum to do in terms of acting while Yogi Babu provides some much-needed ease to the film’s tension without affecting the pace or impact of the narrative.
The script by Selvaraghavan and Dhanush has been intelligently crafted with a marvellous underplay that mercifully does not under-estimate the intelligence of the viewer.
The screenplay, buoyed by the brilliant cinematography, editing and background score keeps the viewer involved and engaged but is severely marred by a weak and unrealistic climax that unfortunately reduces the overall impact of the film.
Despite this, there is enough excellence in all aspects of film-making to make Naane Varuvaen compulsive viewing.
Naane Varuvaen scores 8 points out of 10.