The opening visuals of Maheshinte Prathikaaram , the Malayalam original of this week’s Nimir , are that of a man scrubbing his white rubber chappals, as he bathes in a stream. As unremarkable as that sounds, it managed to transport us to a beautiful place (Idukki) and also pique our curiosity enough to excite us about Mahesh, his story, and perhaps even his love for footwear.
Even Nimir opens the same way (although it’s in black-and-white). We see Selvam (Udhayanidhi Stalin) scrubbing his chappals as he bathes in a river. As he goes about this unremarkable act, he glances at his chappals proudly. And then, a bunch of women, who’re bathing there too, spring into a song-and-dance sequence. The credits begin to roll, in true Priyadarshan style.
If the former felt like cinema, Nimir ’s opening feels like an advertisement (it’s obviously product placement for a footwear brand).
It’s the same with one of the two female leads as well. In the original, when Mahesh’s long-time girlfriend Soumya, leaves him to marry a richer man, we feel terrible for Mahesh, but also sympathise with Soumya. One of the original’s best scenes is when Soumya breaks down when her mother advises her to dump Mahesh. But in Nimir , Valli (who looks too well-made to feel real), is reduced to a caricature. She’s just another opportunistic woman who leaves her lover for a better man.
Subtlety is not really Priyadarshan’s strong suit, and it’s evidently clear in how he’s handled such a delicate film. Even the comedy – which was situational and incidental in the original – is changed to have that loud, sketch-like quality we’ve seen in many other Priyadarshan films.
And for a story that’s not particularly dramatic (Selvam gets beaten up and he vows to not wear footwear until he gets his revenge), it’s the little things that add up to give us an atmospheric experience, and that’s missing in Nimir.
To be fair, it was always going to be a terribly difficult film to remake. It may be an easy watch for first-timers, but for those who love the original (of which I’m one), Nimir feels blasphemous. The original found extraordinary beauty in the ordinary. Its remake, however, is just extremely ordinary.
Director: Priyadarshan
Cast: Udhayanidhi Stalin, MS Bhaskar, Namitha Pramod
Storyline: A photographer vows to take revenge on a stranger after being humiliated in a fight.
