One of the finest movies to have emerged from the Malayalam film industry in recent times was Dileesh Pothan's "Maheshinte Prathikaram". It was like a breath of fresh air with the USP being the subtle & realistic treatment, which was eagerly lapped up by the audience. Close to two years after it's release, veteran director Priyadarshan who is proficient in the art of remaking movies, decided to re-create it in Tamil as "Nimir". Despite his excellent credentials, it's still a tall ask especially since the original was a brilliant movie. So can the remake do justice???
Since most of us have watched the original, I dont think it's necessary to discuss about the plot in detail. However, for the benefit of others; Selvam (Udayanidhi Stalin) runs a photo studio along with his father Shanmugham (J Mahendran) in a lush green small village. The shopkeeper next door, Sadha (M S Bhaskar) was like family to Selvam, as he advised & helped him in all matters. Things move along at a lazy pace until Selvam gets embroiled unintentionally in a street brawl & gets beaten up black & blue. Frustrated at being humiliated in front of everyone, he vows not to use his sandals until he had his revenge. At around the same time, his childhood sweetheart Valli (Parvathi Nair) walks out on him when her family coaxes her to marry the guy of their choice. How Selvam overcomes the humiliation & the broken heart forms the crux of the movie.
It is an oft observed feature that the remakes of blockbusters have mostly turned out to be duds. The primary reason in most of the cases was the cultural differences between the two regions. Incidentally, the same issue raises it's head here as well; but the major drawback was Priyadarshan's heavy handed execution. Subtlety was never his forte & that 's exactly what was required here, due to which many of the sequences that was brilliant in the original felt so bland in this version. As far as the screenplay goes, it's a frame to frame remake except for a couple of additional scenes which were taken from "Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho". Most of the technical aspects were fine but doesnt deserve special mention.
Another major positive in the Malayalam version was the brilliant performance of pretty much every artist involved in the project. I did come across an article where Priyadarshan had mentioned that Stalin had performed than Fahadh & there cant be a more outrageous lie than that. Stalin has given an earnest performance but it is nowhere close to Fahad's standards. The same assessment applies to the rest as well except for Mahendren & Samuthirakani, both of whom were on par or maybe slightly better than K L Antony and Sujith Shankar respectively.
Verdict: The film is unlikely to cater to the Tamil audience & has no scope of a decent run in other states as well. In short, if you have seen the Malayalam version then you will be grossly disappointed or else you can give it a try!!!
Rating: 2/5
Regards...Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment