Movie: Nanban
Cast: Vijay, Ileana, Jeeva, Srikanth, Sathyan, Sathyaraj
Social networking sites became a place of intense debate when it was announced that a remake of the Bollywood superhit “3 Idiots” was going to be undertaken in Tamil, with Vijay donning the lead role. Being a remake of “3 Idiots”, the pressure would have been immense on director Shankar to recreate the magic in “Nanban”and one has to give him due credit for getting it right and presenting an absolute treat to the Tamil audience.
In a gist
“Nanban” is about an engineering student, Panchavan Parivendan (Vijay) who feels that the current education system only aims at producing machines which don't have a mind of their own. Pari is of the opinion that every human being should have a choice as to what he wants to be in life.
His roommates, Sevalkodi Senthil (Jeeva), a person fearful of the future and Venkatramakrishnan (Srikanth), a wannabe wildlife photographer, slowly realise the ideals of Pari and stand up to face the world.
Making trouble for them are Srivatsan Silencer (Sathyan), a student who believes in blindly memorising answers, and Virumandi Santhanam a.k.a Virus (Sathyaraj), the feared Director of the College. Ria Santhanam (Ileana) is the cheerful daughter of Virus, who plays the love interest of Pari. The journey undertaken by these characters is filled with moments that will make you laugh, cry and in the end make you feel good about life. This is the soul of Nanban.
Team works
The strength of “Nanban” lies in the fact that each character has given his/her best performance. One of the most awaited moments of the movie is the speech by Silencer which was a runaway hit in the Hindi version. Sathyan doesn't disappoint and the Tamil version succeeds in bringing the roof down with laughter.
Srikanth looks young and fresh and the confrontation scene with his father touches the audience's heart. Jeeva shines throughout the movie.
“Nanban” is a three hour movie which doesn't slow down at any point and it is surprising to note. Lastly, a big thank you to Rajkumar Hirani for creating the original screenplay.
Bottomline: Whether you have watched “3 Idiots” or not, when the end credits roll you will give both movies a silent cheer.
PRAVEEN JOHN PHILIP, IV Year, B.E ECE, SSN College of Engineering
