‘Ninaithale Inikkum’ lacks flair-Review

Film: “Ninaithale Inikkum”
Cast: Prithviraj, Priyamani, Sakthi, Anuja Iyer, Karthik, Bhagyaraj, Jeeva; Director: G.N. Kumaravelan
Producer: Gemini Film Circuit, Sun Pictures; Music Director: Vijay Antony; Cinematographer: Balasubramaniam
“Ninaithale Innikkum”, a remake of recent Malayalam hit “Classmates”, was touted to be a campus movie loaded with lot of fun. Unfortunately, it not only fails to recreate the same magic, the movie was far from being impressive.

The story goes like this - Siva (Prithviraj) returns to attend his college reunion. He beats up Vasu (Karthik Kumar) for misbehaving with a girl and his friend Sakthi (Ajmal) supports him. Jealous of Siva’s popularity, Vasu is on a prowl and looking for an opportunity to take revenge.

Meera (Priyamani), daughter of local MLA who studies in the same college and falls in love with Shiva after he saved her from a police lathicharge, provides him that chance.

Vasu convinces Meera to contest against Shiva in the college’s union elections. This affects their relationship. After a sequence of unfourtunate events during the election, Siva packs his bags and leaves Mumbai without informing anyone.

The problem with the movie is that almost everything is predictable and most of the incidents are packed in a dull manner. Even the romance between the lead pair isn’t executed with zest.

The beginning seems interesting, but it fails to live up to the expectation. If the first half stutters and staggers, latter half too fails to impress despite some interesting twists and turns.

While the director has handled the flashback technique well to make the narrative interesting in the second half, it has proved to be inadequate to save the movie.

One fails to understand why the political overtones of “Classmates” are mysteriously missing from the Tamil version.

Music composer Vijay Anthony and cinematographer Balasubramaniam deserve complements for their work. While the former has come up with some delectable tunes, the latter has captured them well.

Prithviraj, Priyamani and Sakthi play their respective parts well.

Despite good story “Ninaithale Inikkum” fails because it’s executed in a dull manner.

Tamil Film Review: Ninaithale Inikkum

Ninaithale Inikkum- Classy remake of Classmates

Production: Gemini Film Circuit, Sun Pictures

Direction: G.N. Kumaravelan

Star-casts: Prithviraj, Priyamani, Sakthi, Anuja Iyer, Karthik, Bhagyaraj, Jeeva, Vishnuvpriyan and others

Music: Vijay Antony

Cinematography: Balasubramaniam

Editing: Sreekar Prasad

Choreography: Prasanna, Sujith and Dinesh

Lyrics: Annamalai, Kalai Kumar, Priyan, Sheeba and Prabha

Public Relations: Johnson

Perhaps, “remake’ happens to be the favorite word in the dictionary when it comes to filmmakers in Kollywood. Well, it’s more illustrious with our “King of remakes’ (Jeyam Ravi-Raja) and films of Dhanush where you don’t spot a single difference from the original version.

But here’s debutant Kumaravelan breaking these clichéd formulas. His grand idea of just adapting the story of Lal Jose’s “Classmates’ with a new-fangled screenplay makes him dignified as a proficient filmmaker. As mentioned by the filmmaker

much prior to film’s release, only two sequences have been lifted from the original version. Our heartily regards to this debutant for such a commendable effort of coming up with an unparalleled remake version.

The film opens with college students of academic year 2000 amassing for a reunion. Shiva (Prithviraj) is on his flight from Mumbai while his other classmates: Meera (Priyamani), daughter of MLA, Karthik (Jeeva), Vasu (Karthik) and others have already assembled. Getting back together after 8 years takes them back to nostalgic bittersweet days of their college life. After a span of time, it’s revealed that students have gathered for their classmate Sakthi’s (Sakthi) death anniversary, an asthmatic patient who passed away during his final year in college. Sakthi’s father (K. Bhagyaraj) and wife play perfect hosts inviting the students, who are well settled in their lives with perfect job and marriage. But latter in the evening, as Meera heads to Shiva’s room to revive their broken love, she’s blown out of waters to see him chocked with a guitar string.

What follows next is a turn of events where suspicions become order of the day. Sakthi’s father embarks to unravel the hidden mystery behind this gruesome incident.

But the biggest question here is– Was it an attempt of suicide or homicide?

Prithviraj comes up with a commendable show. If you had watched “Classmates’, you’ll find that he has matured a lot in his performance from the original version. Thanks to Priyamani! She doesn’t imitate Kavya Madhavan (enacted her role in Malayalam version). Looks like Prithviraj and Priyamani would bag a special for “best onscreen chemistry’ for this year. Their previous month’s Malayalam release “Puthiyamugam’ indeed won more laurels for them and “Ninaithale Inikkum’ isn’t an elision. Karthik Kumar gets off well suiting the role of a filthy rich guy. Vishnuvpriyan is okay. Actor Jeeva requires special mention. Comparable to his previous films, he gets a meaty role to play. The actor has well carried out his parts with rib-tickling one-liners. Apart from adding to humor quotients, Kumaravelan has offered him a prominent role and makes sure he’s present all throughout the show. Bhagyaraj looks perfect in his role of a friendly father.

Vijay Antony has done a perfect job with his musical score. Be it the melodic “Nanbanai Partha’ or the fast-beat “Mere Piyaa’, they’re top-notch.

Balasubramaniam delivers eye-catching visuals with his spellbinding cinematography. Certain dialogues do touch your heart, specifically the final word of conclusion by Bhagyaraj to Prithviraj.

Finally, “Ninaithale Inikkum’ is a poignant film that has a middling start and gradually brimmed with interesting moments.

Hats off to debutant Kumaravelan for a colossal directorial… We look ahead for his yet more laudable shows. With Sun Pictures vigorously promoting this film through their wide-range of media networks, the film is sure to make it big on box office.

Verdict: Strongly recommended…

Kamal Hassan present at the music launch of Niaithale Innikum

Recently, during the music launch of Niaithale Inikkum at Satyam Cinemas in Chennai, music director Vijay Antony was elated to find superstar Kamal Hassan at the event.
Kamal Hassan launched the first copy with actor K. Bhagyaraj and while speaking to the media on this occasion, he said, “The song Naaka Mukka is my favorite song as I get to hear it over number of times in a day. Know what? Shruthi has set this as her mobile Hello Tune and I am sure that it would be a funky song even for her kid.”
This flick is a remake of Malayalam movie Classmates. The film stars Prithviraj, Sakthi, Priyamani, Karthik, and Vishnupriyan in lead roles, with K. Bhagyaraj enacting a vital role. Vijay Antony has composed the music, while Balasubramaniam has captured the flick with his camera.