Nirangal Moondru Film Review

Nirangal Moondru is a hyperlink thriller from Karthick Naren, the young director who made a remarkable debut with Dhuruvangal Padhinaaru. His latest film, Nirangal Moondru, is based on his award-winning short film of the same title and stars Atharva, Rahmaan and Sarathkumar in the lead roles. The supporting cast includes Dushyanth Jayaprakash, Ammu Abirami, John Vijay, Chinni Jayanth, Santhana Bharathi, Rethika Srinivas, Murali Ramakrishnan and a special guest appearance by director RK Selvamani.

The film is an intricatel and intelligently crafted thriller which begins with Sri (Dushyanth Jayaprakash) witnessing what he believed to be a kidnapping. In a state of panic he runs off and seeks refuge at his house. When he learns later that day that Parvathy (Ammu Abiram), the daughter of his favourite teacher and one on whom he has a crush, has gone missing, he is convinced that Parvathy has been kidnapped. However, not all is as it seems just as everyone is not who he/she appears to be in this intricately crafted thriller that keeps one engaged to the every end.

Karthick Naren has the same visual sense and control of the medium that he displayed in his debut film. The screenplay is very deftly put together and the various characters very well developed. Unfettered by the star power of his cast, Karthick Naren focuses on the plot and everything else falls into place. The pace of the first half could have been tighter but even this lapse does not spoil the overall impact of this engaging film.

Atharva’s recent script selection has not been that great, but his role in Nirangal Moondru is affirmation that he is an incredibly talented actor who is equally adept in any kind of role. Rahman and Sarathkumar are both in unusual but strong characters.

Dushyanth Jayaprakash, the son of character artist Jayaprakash, handles his role brilliantly and it should not be long before one would see him play the lead role in a film.

Ammu Abirami plays an endearing role and shines brilliantly in the second half. Chinni Jayanth is given the opportunity to shine in a small but important role while Santhana Bharathi also does a formidable job. John Vijay handles the negative role well although this character could have had more depth.

Tijo Thomas has some very creative shots in his cinematography but could have done better with his use of light.

Jakes Bejoy has a brilliant background score and is adequate with the film’s only song.

Tamil cinema needs more such movies, but the reaction from Indian film critics has been far from encouraging. Karthick Naren, it now appears, is still too far ahead of his audiences. For the discerning viewer, if one can ignore the slower pace of the first half, Nirangal Moondru is an engaging and thought-proving thriller with messages so subtle that they are almost totally obscured by the narrative.

Nirangal Moondru scores 9 points out of 10.