Neram Review

It was only after their super hit album 'Nenjodu Cherthu' from Yuvvh' that  young director Alphonse Putharan has restarted dreaming of making a movie from then on with the same cast. And now we have 'Neram' an impressive flick, styled like the popular Latin American movies, even replicating their colour tones and taking liberal inspirations from films starting from  'Run Lola Run'.. An engaging thriller, Neram' revolves around many stories in the midst of the noise, mess  and filth of Chennai.  It has the gangster backdrop  as well as the thriller quotient that keeps you on the edge, with different  stories running  alongside, with  characters who don't cross paths. It is not an episodic film but with a commonality or interconnections  that can't be overlooked. 

Nivin Poly is  Mathew in 'Neram', an IT graduate who has recently lost out of his job, following an interesting  bomb(?) that exploded in the parent company in America.  This also leads him to bankruptcy, and the highhanded money lender Vattiraja(simha) is now all after him, as Mathew  failed to repay the debts that he borrowed for his sister's marriage.  Mathew is also disturbed by the act of Johnykutty (Lalu Alex), his fiancee Jeena(Nazriya Nazim) 's father , who has decided to roll back from their  marriage agreement.

The movie is all about a day in Mathew's life , the final day allocated to Mathew by Vattiraja  for the settlement of the  debts. It is also the very same day when  Jeena has decided to walk out of his house to start living with Mathew. But as some others in other parts of the city has some dissimilar plans,  Mathew is forced to have a real run for money against the allotted, limited  time. He is left alone to the biggest melancholies and miseries of his life in a matter of few hours to five `o clock in the evening, when a lot of things are going to be decided.

The highlight of the movie is a simple, but interesting tale and the skillful direction by debutante Alphonse Putharan . Embellished with a taut screenplay , the movie leads to an explosive, striking, nail-biting finale. In fact, the penultimate moments are pure dynamite and any pitfalls  or shortcomings you may've had about the pacing of the film and in its logic  vanishes into thin air when you are into the climax. The exceptional cinematographyby Anand C Chandran  in the raw settings and limited lights also is hard to overlook and so is some truly wonderful but minimum  dialogues. The songs in the movie by Rajesh Murugeshan  are infectious and  `Pistah' is already in the top of the charts.

The show belongs to the two lead actors Nivin poly and Nazriya who impress big time. Nivin carries on with his `Thattthathin Marayathu' act, the same vocal tones and energy.  Shammy Thilakan as S I Ookkan Tony and Manoj K Jayan as Rayban  is terrifically hilarious in this side-splitting act, while the freshers in the cast are also fine in their roles.

With fine technical sides and a length of one hour and fifty minutes , this Neram `is one big joyride from commencement to conclusion. This one,  without that  customary flippant and frivolous humor, is for the masses, for youngsters. Neram  with elements of adventure, thrill and drama and  understated and minimalist humor and absurdity is also a `clean' film  which makes it stand out in the crowd of new generation flicks.

Rating -7/10