What shall you do if you are a director who made two of the most expensive movies in the country and made them work in the terms of economy and environment? Definitely, I would not have put my hands up to remake India’s most celebrated movie of the century. Well, I often believe that Shankar comes from a different planet and trust him to take up this challenge.
Bharathiyar believed and therefore yours truly believed that we have to translate/remake great works in Tamil. However ever since the release of Dilse and Uyire in tandem, I felt that what you hear/ see the first matters. In the era of Tamil speaking Hollywood movies, I thought dubbing the movie would have been easier. All the same, a movie like 3 Idiots which was savoured by almost all the souls in national language with English sub titles offered the greatest possible challenge for the greatest film maker. And yes, for the tenth time in succession, Shankar emerges unscathed. “Thalaivaa, Neenga Great”
Nanban is a honest remake of 3 Idiots in the sense it does not deviate from the script and most of the times even the dialogues. Almost all of you reading this review would know the story as well as Rajkumar Hirani and let me not dwell shallow or deep into it. It’s the same story without any twist or turn. And that’s where Shankar intelligently shuts the doors on critics.
It would be obvious to compare performances and of all, Ileana draws flak. And add her Andrea’s voice, she is as suitable as Arnab Goswami to mainstream news channel at primetime. While small characters like Balu Mahendra, SJ Suryah and Vijay Vasanth provide the necessary impact, the biggies do justice to their selection. Sathyan with most of Omi Vaidya’s dialogues and body language cannot be complained. And why the hell should you give Sathyaraj such a slang akin to Booman Irani? However the big three are a relief. While Srikkanth captures the modesty of the character as Maddy did, Jeeva looked even more comfortable than Sharman. You have to give credit and claps to Vijay. While Ajith mocks at himself in his movie as a college student, Vijay just a couple of years younger, looks every bit a college fresher. And if you are not reminded of Aamir, then it is high time that we admitted that Vijay is not only a man for the masses, but also has in him the classes.
The dialogues are all important for this type of a movie and I found that the Shankar – Karky combo have done fairly well. The dialogues in your own tongue would definitely be better than through the sub titles. But some dialogues are even hard hitting and even humourous. I was bowled over by lines like antha “Panja Parathesi” “A for Aapu, B for Bulbu” “Avana Nee?” “Time Up Time Up” and Burmese with Malayalam etc.
After Anniyan and Endhiran, Harris seals the debate here. An ARR Shankar Combo is miles ahead of Harris Shankar combo. Though he scores hightime with “En Frienda Pola yaaru machaan” and to some extent with Ask Lasku, at many times he leaves you yearning or crooning for Rahmania.
Manoj Paramahamsa has established himself with every passing movie and Nanban is no different. His captures of the hill during the titles was impressive and he impresses throughout. As for Muthuraj’s sets, we have two phrases “Good Sets” and “We have seen even better ones from Shankar”
My only complaint is the movie lacked experimentation, particularly with Shankar, the Maathiyosi man at the helm of affairs. Was I wrong in expecting him to change many things and present them in his style? I thought he would change the main dialogue “All is Well” but was disappointed in his retention of even small phrases like “Champ” “This is World War III” “We are from Science side”etc. I thought the only two songs “All is Well” and “Ask Lasku” provided enough opportunities for Shankar to stamp his class. Though I loved his picturisation idea of “Ask Lasku”, I thought he underused the CG people in “All is Well”. And when he invented a lovely space for himself to have his third song “Irukaanaa”, he once again flatters to deceive. Shankar in his famous Secret of Success song claims “Honesty” and “Ability to Think Different” as the secrets of success. I thought he picked the former over the latter.
Yet, when you can clap, whistle and laugh for Nanban even after seeing 3 Idiots as many times as we did, you have to agree that All is Well with the movie. For the audience, the free advice would be to enjoy the movie rather than compare and contrast, as we do. After all, a Nanban cannot be compared with 3 Idiots, however strikingly similar he is.