After his Blockbuster Viswasam released this Pongal, Thala Ajith is back on screen, this time as a part of a content oriented social thriller Ner Konda Paarvai, a diversion from his usual mass entertainers. With a strong cast including Shraddha Srinath and Vidya Balan and lead by H Vinoth, the movie had garnered enough curiosity right from initiation. Let's see how well the team has remade Pink.
The film begins with Meera Krishnan (Shraddha Srinath) attacking Aadhik (Arjun Chidambaram), following his misbehavior, and now Aadhik and his friends target and harass Meera, besides also getting her and her friends Fami (Abhirami) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) into a legal trouble. Bharath Subramanian (Ajith), their neighbour and an advocate is their only hope to fight against the influential Aadhik. Was Bharath able to get justice served for the girls is what Ner Konda Paarvai is all about.
Thala Ajith owns the movie with the expression of his anger, the subtlety and baritone voice when mouthing dialogues in an impactful manner while conveying the powerful message. Shraddha Srinath as the independent woman who gets into trouble presents the impacts of the trauma, the fear, anger and disgust perfectly, breathing life into Meera Krishnan. Abhirami is subtle, and breaks in an important sequence, effectively.Andrea Tariang is apt as the Meghalaya girl. Arjun Chidambaram as the rich, arrogant and patriarchal Aadhik, displays the chauvinistic behaviour throughout while Aswin Rao and Sujith Shankar as his friends are rightly cast. Rangaraj Pandey mostly presents a film version of his TV show questioning act, and he could have been more effective, as his dialogue delivery is monotonous. Vidya Balan and Delhi Ganesh are adequate in their cameos.
The first half establishes the trouble Meera, Fami and Andrea get into, and the arrival of Bharath into their lives. The characters of the girls, their trauma and the attitude of the men are established well, and towards the interval, a mass Ajith gives a treat for his fans.
The second half action moves to the court, and at different places, every actor gets to score with their intense, emotional performances. Shraddha Srinath and Abhirami get their respective scenes to prove their calibre, while Ajith holds the screenplay together with his mighty screen presence and as the powerful messages come from the man himself in every courtroom hearing, it sure makes an impact.
Yuvan Shankar Raja helps elevate the screenplay with his background score and conveys the emotions while of the songs Agalathey is good.Cinematography by Nirav Shah is top notch presenting the courtroom drama in a realistic manner. Gokul Chandran's cuts make sure the conversational drama never has a dull moment.
Director H Vinoth, after the promise he showed with Sathuranga Vettai and Theeran Adhigaaram ondru is back this time with the remake of the hit flick Pink, and has stayed mostly faithful to the original while making sure the modifications for the presence of Ajith do not impact the screenplay. While the girls lead by Shraddha Srinath are selected perfectly as they convey the pain and the anger convincingly, Ajith as the man who has to control his anger while having a control on the courtroom proceedings instantly appeals with his body language and dialogue delivery. Though the song sequence featuring Vidya Balan and the extended pre-interval action block are targeted towards satisfying Ajith fans, they do not hamper the flow of the movie. Vinoth has adapted the screenplay well, powered by strong performances from Ajith and Shraddha Srinath besides a good technical team, and has delivered a much needed, relevant message for the society. Every line uttered by Ajith in the court, be it the rulebook for women safety or the emphasis on "no means no", this movie is sure an eye opener for the society in the wake of crimes against women, and kudos to Ajith for shedding his mass hero image and shouldering this movie and Boney Kapoor for coming forward to debut in Tamil with a content oriented flick.
Verdict: Ajith Kumar and team drive home a powerful message.
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