Nadunisi Naaygal Movie Review: Who says barking dogs seldom bite?

Writer- Director Gautham Vasudev Menon has carved a place for himself in the annals of Tamil Cinema through his movies. Be it the romantic musicals like Minnale or his recent Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa ( VTV ) or his cop stories like Kakka Kakka or Vettaiyadu Vilayadu, Gautham’s films have more or less connected with the audience, even when he made a more personal film likeVaaranam Aayiram. So after Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya/Ye Maaye Chesave(the Telugu version of VTV) when Gautham announced that his next film in Tamil would be something unconventional, it immediately caught the attention of the people. Right from its title- “Nadunisi Naaygal” (midnight dogs) to the fact that it was to be shot on a shoestring budget with mostly new faces and without songs or even BG score, everything seemed to suggest an interesting experiment in the offing.

Adding to it Nadunisi Naaygal (NN from hereon) and another forthcoming film,Veppam were both to be produced by Photon Kathaas, a new production outfit started by Gautham along with couple of other promoters (they now have an impressive line-up of projects in store apart from these two movies). All this and more ensured that the curiosity factor for the movie would ensure a fairly good interest in the film (and hence a good opening?). NN starts off on an interesting note as we witness a couple of murders and a girl being kidnapped from a hospital. The police manage to capture the youth, Veera who is allegedly behind all this and then Veera (new comerVeera Bahu ) starts impassively telling his tale. Veera or actually Samar was an eight-year-old boy living alone with his father (his mother is no more) in Mumbai and is shown to be living a life of hell. His father exposes him to wild orgies at home and even sexually abuses him. A kind neighbor, Meenakshi ( Swapna Abraham ) rescues Samar and then brings him under her fold.

From then on Meenakshi is everything to Samar and she re-christens him as Veera. What initially looks like an idyllic life in case of Veera starts changing soon as Veera goes on to reveal his inner self. From then life is a roller coaster ride for Veera as things are never the same again. From the very beginning we get to see the brilliance of Manoj Paramahamsa’s camera work, which adds to the impact of the story telling. Be it Veera murdering the cops at the start of the movie or the shots in the rain as Sukanya ( Sameera Reddy ) tries to flee from Veera, the visuals are wonderful. It takes some time before you even realize the absence of a BG score and Gautham does deserve credit for that as well. In terms of the story telling however its not entirely a smooth ride. The basic premise is that of how sexual abuse can play havoc on an individual and that angle has been shown interestingly. But then there for a movie touted as a dark and edgy thriller there aren’t too many thrills in store.

Veera, a former AD to Gautham makes a reasonably confident debut as the main lead. While the inexperience shows in portions like for example in the interrogation scenes, overall it’s an earnest performance. His scenes in particular with Swapna Abraham are well enacted. Sameera Reddy is at ease as Sukanya, a girl for whom life suddenly comes crashing all of a sudden. Swapna Abraham portrays two different shades of Meenakshi convincingly and will get noticed for sure. Deva another former AD to Gautham also looks confident as the cop who nabs Veera. The editing by Anthony also adds the required touch to the proceedings and doesn’t disrupt the show at all.

But apart from the fact that there aren’t enough chilling moments in the film ( for one that’s touted as an edge of the seat thriller ), there’s also the point that if you are one of those who has been fed on a staple of diet of thrillers from Hollywood and elsewhere, you’d probably realize where the story is heading anyways. I am still willing to ignore this aspect since not everyone who watches Tamil Cinema is onto World Cinema or Hollywood in a big way. But what could have or rather should have been avoided is the lengthy discourse that comes at the end in the form of a dull monotonous monologue regarding sexual abuse and its far reaching impact on the people it affects.

Why go about preaching and trying to educate the audience? One thing that should ideally be avoided is spoon feeding the audience or trying to estimate that the audience isn’t smart enough to appreciate what’s going on. Maybe here Gautham probably felt he has to neutralize the strong content shown in the film and probably reach out to a larger audience and tell them his rationale behind the tale. Whatever be the reason, it kind of undoes the spirit of the whole exercise in a way. Though the movie has been positioned as a true story the extent of external influences are also fairly visible. The other thing that I’d like to point out is that Gautham’s attempt to experiment with the film is also from the commercial point of view.

Considering the way the film has been made – with no known names (except Sameera Reddy), no songs or BG score, no lavish outdoor shooting etc its of course understood that in terms of economics the movie makes a lot of sense. Considering the low cost of the film and also keeping in mind the brand Gautham Menon and the curiosity factor for the film the film was bound to break even/make money on the very first weekend itself and that’s exactly what happened. One can argue and say that this may not be possible for any and every filmmaker for there are films made at an even cheaper cost as well. Of course that’s true and I wouldn’t argue with that. In this direction RGV’s Dongala Muta (releasing this Friday, 18th March 2011) is an even bolder step. So what NN tells you is that there is a scope to think beyond the usual framework and attempt something like this that could succeed. As the movie gets over and you walk out its hard not to resist thinking of the co-relation of the dogs in the film and that of those outside in the real world.

In a nutshell NN is Sigappu Rojakkal meets Pyscho in Gautham Menon style.

Note- The film is certainly not suitable for the family audience due to the theme and certain segments in the movie.

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/nadunisi-naaygal-movie-review-who-says-barking-dogs-seldom-bite/