Natchathiram Nagargirathu

For what's a 4-star film in its political ideology (and progressivism), NN felt very anti-climactic to me, and hence, I'm going with 3.5. The whole stretch with Shabeer Kallarackal (though he's a wonderful actor) was bizarrely staged. I get that it was supposed to be bizarre in the first place, but it failed to evoke the right emotion in me when the rest of the film seamlessly managed that.

Pa Ranjith's NN is more of a statement on love than a love story. It asks relevant questions on modern love, answers some of them (subtly and extravagantly), and leaves the rest for audiences to interpret themselves and make room for improvement and inclusion. Dushara Vijayan's performance (as René) is splendid, never holding herself back from expressing exactly how she feels about everything - be it love, music, food, or societal discrimination. Boldly written and performed, René is certainly among my favorite Pa Ranjith protagonists. Kalaiyarasan comes next in line for portraying a biased, pre-conditioned person who turns over a new leaf eventually. His transformation is the one that feels complete.

Kalidas Jayaram and the rest of the ensemble are okayish, relegated to characters that are less memorable. Some LGBTQ representation is added as well, but they serve little in forwarding the film's plot, as the theme of the play the theater group eventually settles on, has little to do with queer love. But it's wonderful to see them in the film nonetheless, especially in those discussions about love (and its politics) early on. Tenma's music is also an essential ingredient that kept me interested all through. The best stretch in the film was the subversion of endogamy in a scene where Kalaiyarasan's character goes home to visit his dying granny.

Pa. Ranjith's new movie feels a personal statement to "Naataka Kaadhal" but that is not the movie is all about. The story revolving around a drama troupe at Pondicherry, a group full of people with varied opinions (political or otherwise). As they try to prepare for a play on love, the clash of ideals brings out the differences and the eventual impact on the individuals. If one thinks this is all there is, the third act throws in a terrific surprise elevating the movie.

Rene aka Tamizh being the central character, one of the many characters that are written to mirror the society's harsh reality, is the best written one. The character of Arjun is the one with a better arc as he stands for everything wrong in prejudiced upper caste male with no understanding of political correctness. The narrative that is mostly conversational is effectively merged into the on screen play which stands out for the set design and make up along with the performances, firmly aided by those songs.

I am surprised how i didn't feel the runtime at all and that is solely due to the surprise character entry in the third act, as mysterious the character is, it directly felt like an interaction beyond the screen. The rebels vs the self proclaimed protector for the society, a top notch touch towards the end. To point out the shortcomings, though thr story dwells into genderless love as well, the same sex love stories and the trans couple story gets reduced to dialogues.

Pa. Ranjith's films are always a matter of some political dimensions to discuss. Every film either he directed or produced deals with issues related to Dalit politics and casteism. NN is also about that political spectrum. The subject is something we had already discussed and talked but the execution of the film stands different. The initial scene of the movie projects the entire concept, ie, Love and Caste. The film is built in a new-gen format which means there comes a lot of characters which is alien to the so-called normal society. We can see queer people, a transwoman, and a lesbian couple in the movie which is something a progressive thought. I feel like the theatre group simply symbolizes the future world that everyone intends to come. The theatre group is all set to execute a new play and the master of the group selects love as the subject for the play. Love that connects with the current social scenario. The movie also talks about the issue of honor killing which is so prevalent in society. While the master put forward this subject to everybody in the group all come up with their own views about the subject. That comments from them resemble the attitude of people toward this issue. We can see many types of dimensions that flavored a strong backup to the movie. The film is something a good attempt but not to be considered a brilliant one from Pa. Ranjith.

All my life I have suffered by the society in various scenarios. Being a child whose mom ran away!! I got to understand the dark side of this society at a very young age. Inequality is everywhere, from the drinking glass to job promotions... this movie helped me to understood on how to handle the anger that I built upon myself!!

Rene's laugh is inspiring a lot!! Thanks Ranjith!!

1. Tenma's music is awesome!! But it would have been better to have a different sound for the shooting star. Whole scoring is a beautifully wrapped with the story 2. I'm from Pondicherry... and this is the first movie which actually shows what the culture in this city that I have experienced!!!

3. I can see kalidas really understood the movie but his acting is not enough to register his character in my mind... like Rene, shabeer and Master, Hari !!

4. A guy who was inside the photo(karu arukapata pen) from the drama rehearsal acted really well!!

5. As per baddy's review, This movie is above all these good bad average terms 6. Movie like this will live in Tamil cinema forever.

RATED 9/10 Language: Tamil Source: Nil RECOMMENDED

From the beginning to end the movie is not deviated from the core subject. No extra scenes, sentiments and comedies. These are are very much positive points to the movie at the same time sidelines the movie into artistic one rather than entertaining one.

This is pure Art-Cult-Brave movie and must watch for every cinema lovers. The first half looks filled with more conversations and bit over done, might be I got this feeling because of all scenes shot in single location. The second half is bit breezy. The Movie is point blank at the same time it was funny in places.

The biggest strength of this movie is the dialogs. There is some hidden gem shots like "door with light rays on Buddha painting and the person sitting near the wild cat in climax" The climax fight is bit hurried wind-up but I liked this one. The "beach meet" after climax fight is cherry on top scene.

Must watch for everyone, especially who want to self analyse the love life...