Saravanan opens his movie with a slide difficult those that may snide that such incidents of caste oppression and boastful shows of energy dynamics don’t occur in at the moment’s India. Not solely does he dare to disagree with it, however he additionally ends the movie with real-life Dalit panchayat presidents lamenting on how their work will get hindered and their positions not being taken severely. Greater than eager to dish out an entertaining film, Saravanan and Sasikumar have needed to doc one thing sadly nonetheless prevalent, and in that enterprise, they’ve definitely succeeded. However whether or not the movie does justice to its core thought — one thing that must be instantly addressed by these in energy — is a special query.

Inarguably, the largest subject with Nandhan is its ‘in-your-face’ perspective. Sarcastically, this slant of the movie additionally offers a few of its most sincere and life like moments, particularly when Saravanan takes a dig at up to date politicians. However the lack of subtlety, which appears to be a product of improper translation from prose to image, kills the immersive expertise the movie strives to attain. An establishing shot of Koppulingam’s bed-ridden father (GM Kumar) begins with a cobweb-covered strolling stick. A chunk of stem which Ambethkumar’s son buries in haste, grows to be a plant as a metaphor for a way folks and their ideologies aren’t buried however sown. Do you get the gist?

A nonetheless from ‘Nandhan’
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association

There’s a shot of a teen being scolded by elders for taking part in on-line rummy, and one other one involving Ambethkumar’s spouse Selvi (Suruthi Periyasamy), a cashew vendor, getting cheated by wealthy commuters on a freeway who make a run for it with out paying her for the products. Whereas they may present extra context to the standard of residing of Ambethkumar’s clan, none of those scenes add any worth to the movie’s proceedings. Equally, the torture porn episode on the finish of the movie’s runtime feels unnecessarily graphic. The movie jumps from one scene to a different with bumps giant sufficient to decelerate the cashew thieves, and the unevenly-done darkish make-up of Sasikumar and Suruti will not be solely synthetic, but in addition reiterates the misunderstanding and stereotypes across the correlation between caste and pores and skin tones.

However Nandhan additionally has its share of silver linings, such because the scene involving Ambethkumar doing a trial run for an Independence Day flag-hoisting ceremony with a bit of his crimson towel full with a salute, which can be interpreted as Lal Salam. A few of the dialogues from Nandhan not solely remind us of the political satires we now have had in Tamil cinema but in addition stand as an affidavit to the maker’s gutsy tackle up to date politics; there’s a throwaway line of an upper-caste man saying “Indha puli, siruthai na namakku agadhu” (Lions and panthers aren’t good for us). There’s additionally a unbelievable dialogue on how folks used to imagine that energy and authority are essential to rule, however the fact is, it’s wanted to even stay.

The movie’s ready forged does the vast majority of the weightlifting. Curiously, from GM Kumar to Samuthirakani (who seems in an prolonged cameo) to the protagonist and the antagonist, the movie is stuffed with directors-turned-actors, they usually all do a stable job. Sasikumar pulls off a difficult position neatly, and so does Suruthi, whereas Balaji Sakthivel can be raking up an interesting filmography as an actor. However regardless of their performances and a much-needed message at its core, Nandhan succumbs to mediocre writing, leading to a predictable ending that fails to offer the catharsis the movie builds us as much as.

Nandhan is presently working in theatres