Sasikumar is no handsome hero with mass appeal but the director turned actor has been having a fleet of success with his acting directorial and production debut in subramaniapuram followed by his production pasanga and now another stupendous flick nadodigal this time teamed up with samuthirakani the famous tv serial director and known for his powerful role as an antagonist in subramaniapuram . Well it only shows that performance and powerful stories still remain the winner and the audience is not reduced to just watching any movie from thesuper stars.
Sasikumar plays Karuna a BA history Gold medalist seeking a government job primarily to win his ladyloves( uncles daughter) hand played by debutant ananya . chandran played by vijayvasanth( remember him from chennai 600028) is his friend seeking a bank loan to setup his own computer center is in love with Karunas sisterpalyed by debutant abhinaya, much to the knowledge of Karuna. Pandian played by Bharani( from kallori) is the third in the team is seeking the arrival of his passport so that he can go abroad to work. The three of them roam around together on the backdrop of rajapalayam and spend time drinking, eat and sleep together . The others in the lead include kanja karuppu .
All is well and time flies as the three make ambitious plans for there future however there is unexpected turn of events in the form of saravanan who is karunas school mate lands at Karunas house one fine day.Saravanan is a son of an ex Mp and is madly in love with prabha a daughter of a big business magnet in Namakal .however both the parents disapprove and hence the dejected saravanan decides to end his life at rajapalayam . However he is saved and Karuna and his friends decide to help him to win prabhas hand.
The friends join hands and travel all the way to namakal where Prabha lives . Inspite of all odds withboth prabhas dad and saravanans moms watchful eyes, prabha is kidnapped and eventually married to saravanan and is sent and placed in a safe custody in an unknown destination even as fate and tragedy strikes the three friends in different forms trying to kidnap prabha . Chandran has his leg amputated as a trailer runs over him . Pandian gets a blow on his head which leaves him deaf and saravanan a scar on his face. the three however land with the police. Karunas dreams of getting a government job fades along with it his hopes of winning his lady love .
The three however secure a bail and slowly and steadily get to terms with the reality of there losses andeven with there dreams shattered they find happiness that there friend saravana is happily married and secure. The three slowly turn to normallcy but not before they are once again shattered and shocked to hear that all the sufferings they had undergone is in vain as prabha and saravanan are already into divorce and learn what prevailed was lust .over love between them
The three are enraged by the news and the subsequent turn of events from there on is the shocking and bold theme of nadodigal .
Music is by sundar c boabu who has done an excellent job with rerecording . couple of songs are good especially the sambho siva sambho number sung by shankar mahadeven gets the audience involved
Kanja karuppuu does his role well but underutilised however bharani takes over the mentor role as a comedian and does an excellent job . especially he never shows the disablity bothering him is a smart act.
screenplay is at fast pace towards the end of first half but slows down towards the second half .is a bit of a let down.
Chandran has a friendly dad who is an exservice man and some of the scenes showing the relation between the two are bit blown out of proportion especially when the dad gives tips to his son for flirting with a girl whom he loves and subeseqently tipping him how to propose her etc. but then I am convinced you still find such dad son relations in real life as well.However the emotions are suttle and beautiful when he sees his son amputated and portions are well handled.The other dad son relation with regards to bharani is in total contrast where the dad is married to a second wife and he shouts at bharani in front of her but behind her shows lot of affection toward his son. Abhinaya and ananya are debutants but ananya comes out winner with some expressive acting and mannerisms. You really feel sad when she is forced to forget Karuna as her dad threatens to kill himself if she still thinks of marrying him.
sasikumar has done more or less a flawless performance . has used his looks and eyes to the best to communicate different emotions beautifully
There are no seperate comedy tracks and whatever is goes with the stream of things and is a welcome change with changing trends in film making down south.
The director has tried to bring out certain issues like floating prostitutes on the highways which in the context of the movie seems unwarranted but then the commercial aspect with a song sequence just to satisfy the masses is justifiable.
Portions of kidnapping prabha is really breathe taking fast paced and the turn of events are really shocking but then thats something the director has tried to birng out . There are hoards of people and friends who sacrifice so many things to help there friends to unite in love . But when then they have no say when the two decides to call quits . However at the end of it the director has sent out a clear message that if and only if the people in love after marriage are made accountable to all these friends who make sacrifices marriages would never end up in a divorce and notable point would be he also communicates that even parents would entrust and approve such marriages .
Nadodigal is pleasently shocking but well scripted movie . It takes a lot of guts to really kindle your inner thoughts so brilliantly when you really feel helpless and watch love marriages fall apart. But the movie touches a new topic never really touched before escpecially friends who make so many sacrificies personally and thinking that one such friend in turn would help them win his love. It definitely carries a social message and its a bold one at that . kudos samuthirakani. inspite all your commercial attachements .the movie is worth a watch.