Naiyaandi Movie Review

Director: Sargunam
Cast: Dhanush, Nazriya, Soori
Music: Ghibran
Producer: S Kathiresan
Sargnam’s Naiyaandi is a slapstick family entertainer. No awkward moments that’ll make you regret taking your family along. However, if you are expecting this Dhanush starrer to be a smart, rib-tickling comedy, you may be disappointed.
The first half comedy falls flat, but it is the second half especially hilarious scenes involving Sriman and Sathyan as Dhanush’s bachelor brothers and Pyramid Natarajan as his father, which is a laugh riot.
The film is loosely based on Rajasenan’s Malayalam comedy Meleparambil Aanveedu (1993) starring Jayaram and Shobana in the lead roles with some minor changes.
Chinna Vandu (Dhanush) is the youngest in a family consisting of father(Pyramid Natarajan), mother and his two elder brothers (Sriman and Sathyan), bachelors who are desperate to get married. The first half is all about how Chinna Vandu meets and fall in love with Vana Roja ( Nazriya ) and due to circumstances is forced to run away on her engagement day. She comes to Chinna Vandu’s house as an apprentice in his brass shop, but his two elder brothers want to marry her!
Naiyaandi works to a large extent due to Sriman and Sathyan in the second half, and it far better than Soori, Singam Puli and Imman Annachi’s lacklustre comedy. One has to give credit to Dhanush for pulling off a role, which offers him nothing much to perform.
Nazriya is confident, looks fresh and does her best to make her role convincing. Rest of the cast is adequate. The look and feel of the film is tacky, acting is casual and the film could have done with some smart editing without those five songs that seem squeezed into the narrative. The song placements are so predictable and Ghibran’s music does not impress.
If only director Sargunan had paid some more attention to his script and worked on the comedy scenes, it would made the audiences laugh.
On the whole, Naiyaandi is not astounding but it is not a damp squib like most draft comedies we’ve had in recent times. It will be breath of fresh air for families seeking some laid back entertainment and slapstick comedy this weekend.