In a way, Dhanush’s Naane Varuvean feels like it is part of his Kadhal Konden universe. The same director-actor-music composer trio is back delving into the deep dark world of human emotions.
With Kamal Haasan's Alavandhan-like premise, the story of this supernatural thriller revolves around rival twins, the admirable Prabhu and the evil Kadhir — a dual role played by the extraordinary Dhanush. After a series of undesirable incidents they are separated, and then go on to live their individual lives.
Years later, Prabhu experiences paranormal activities in the house as his daughter behaves like she is possessed by a ghost. In order to heal her, he is forced to confront the bruised past with his long-lost sibling. But why is there such a tense situation between the brothers? What is the backstory behind it? Will Prabhu save his daughter? That is the rest of the story.
Music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja proves yet again that he is the BGM King in Tamil cinema. He amplifies the entire experience of the film and literally sends chills down your spine with his electrifying ‘Veera Soora’ number.
The most interesting aspect of the film is how it presents parenting, both the good and the bad kind.
When young Kadhir demonstrates anti-social behaviour, his parents were judgmental and not supportive at any point. In fact, they abused him with severe punishments. Eventually, Kadhir grows into those dreadful emotions and becomes extremely violent as an adult.
However, it was refreshing to see that when Prabhu as an understanding father recognizes that his daughter is struggling with a mental health-related problem, he is willing to have an open conversation with her on how he can support and that makes her feel comfortable to confess that she needs medical help.
While most of the dark comedy scenes with Yogi Babu worked, one specifically didn’t. There is a dialogue where he says ‘Loosa Nee?’ (Are you a ret**d?) to a Malayali ghost-buster, for laughs. It felt unnecessary and ironic, given the subject that the film deals with.
The intermission sequence was bang on, giving us the biggest rush of adrenaline. The way Dhanush says ”Run” following it up with hunting down a bunch of men, is simply goosebumps worthy. Not to forget, an excellent glimpse of his impromptu dance reminds us of Vinod from Kadhal Konden.
Indhuja Ravichandran, Elli AvrRam and the child actors Hiya Davey, Pranav and Prabhav render adequate performances.
The shorter run-time of the film is both a boon and a bane. While it guarantees a sleek gripping thriller, it also accounts for the lack of depth in the storyline. For instance, Kadhir explains why he is the monster he is: attributing it to his pain of being abandoned in his traumatic past. However, even as a child before he was orphaned, he seemed to have psychological issues which didn’t have a clearer explanation.
While Dhanush is terrific with his killer performance as both a doting father and a psychic baddie, Yuvan is excellent with his music and filmmaker Selvaraghavan is superb with his trademark direction skills, the revenge thriller Naane Varuvean still falls slightly short of excellence with a predictable and flat drama, especially in the second half.
Naane Varuvean is playing in cinemas now.
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