Nanban (Review): A laugh riot, an emotional blackmail, a beautiful way to recollect our college lives.

Movie: Nanban (2012, Tamil)

A movie by S Shankar

Tag: Remake of '3 Idiots' (Hindi)

Senthil (Jiiva), Venkat (Srikanth) and Srivatsan (Sathyan), on a journey to find their college friend Pari (Vijay). The main story is revealed through flashbacks. The film illustrates the college life experiences of three engineering friends. They invite us to join the journey, and at the end, we just don't want to end the journey.

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As usual like all other Shankar movies, Nanban comes with a good message. No doubt why S Shankar has got interest in the remake, most of his previous movies had pointed out one or other issues in education institutions, Eg. Capitation fees. This time also, the film deals with education system such as the ‘method of education’ and ‘education against one’s own imaginative interests’. It challenges the Indian Education System. Nanban can be collectively called in one word as imposing.

Remaking a movie like 3 Idiots successfully is never an easy task, all credits goes to S Shankar. Every scene was absolute and flawless. And I wonder how Shankar is able to deliver, everything he touches, in style. Nanban will make you chuckle out with its slapstick funny sequences and drop a tear or two in few expressive sequences.

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Pluses:

• S Shankar

• Dialogs, comedy and emotion scenes.

• Vijay and Jiiva.

• Sathyan, Srikanth and Satyaraj.

• Cinematography.

• Music (Song placements are also good)

• Costumes.

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In the negative side, few loose-ends: Logic for few happenings. Eg: What will happen if you anger few seniors in an Engineering College anywhere in the world? Ileana’s would-be was confirmed and was about to marry in the flash back and after 10 years also her marriage is about to start!!! There are enough compromises to give good entertainment value. With the right blend of college life, family sentiments, comedy and friendship, the movie just don’t allow viewers to search for the logic. The golden script has magic on it and the very magic makes the faults vanish within the frames. Bearing in mind the goodies, overlooking few faults are quite easy.

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Two things which I felt could have been…

1. Names of the characters!. (They were easily reachable to viewers in the original).

2. I wished to see ‘En Nanban Pole…’ song (With lyrics) in few other scenes.

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Noteworthy…: (My Picks)

• Use of ‘En Nanban Pole....’ track as BGM gives the perfect feel.

• Venkat’s (Srikanth) conversation with his father.

• Senthil’s (Jiiva) interview scene.

• Vijay and Satyaraj throwing key-set to Srikanth.

• Jiiva’s answer to Virus’s question ‘How does an induction motor start?’

• Vijay’s costumes.

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 Good to see a multi-star film with Vijay in it. Vijay’s transfer from super-hero character to a freak college student is excellent. His performances in emotional scenes as well as comedy are his best. He delivers with style. He looks very handsome and perfect cool. We see a different Vijay, whom everybody would love to watch. Srikanth as the guy who is ready to sacrifice his dream for his father's dream is wonderful. Jiiva fits well. He is very good in emotional scenes. Performance wise he is the pick of many. What makes Nanban work remarkably is the excellent chemistry between the main three stars. We forget the actors and that’s the best thing about the movie, we see only the characters.

 Shankar gets it well, all supporting cast look good and perfect in their respective roles particularly Satyaraj and Sathyan. Each character justifies his or her role to the hilt. Ileana has done well in one of the better characters she played in her career but is too slim (now) to give the ooh factor.

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For everybody who enjoyed 3 Idiots: It will take few minutes to get adjust with the complete new set of actors, and once it is done it will give the same beautiful feeling of the original. There is no Aamir Khan nor Madhavan nor Sharmaan or Omi Vaidya and still it is good enough to keep you engaged with the movie. And there is no point in comparing an original with the remake, still if you want to then Nanban stands very near to 3 Idiots. A good tribute to the classy original.

And for everybody who had not seen 3 Idiots: Nanban is one of the best entertainers of recent years and it would be hard to find another movie which made you laugh this much. It will enlighten you and make you wish to be in the college once again. Nanban is amazing; it gets the most basic part of film-making perfect - the script.

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Box-Office: Aaaaal izzz well.

Overall: The best of all Vijay movies. This is not a superstar movie, but a movie which make stars super. A blockbuster written all over it.

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A laugh riot, an emotional blackmail, a beautiful way to recollect our college lives. - My Rating: 4/5

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Funny point 1: All S Shankar movies with a medical college scene or a hospital scene were blockbusters.

Funny point 2: When Vijay gets slaps from Srikanth and Jiiva, I wished to have a dialog there for Sri or Jiiva to Vijay. “Where were you all these years? Why didn’t you do this earlier? Why you wasted few years doing movies like Kuruvi, Sura, Villu, Vettaikkaran… etc’”