Director Priyadarshan and Udhayanidhi Stalin collaborate for Nimir, a story set in a rural backdrop. How tall does the film stand? Read further to find out.
Nimir starts off with a different black and white tone and the very first spark comes from its visual beauty. The movie has a lot of naturistic shots and a lot of these are used as a tool by the director to take the story forward. This makes none of the proceedings unwanted and adds up as a major positive. Major credits to the cinematographer NK Ekambaram.
The genre being predominantly drama implies that the film on paper does have an unhurried pace. A set of the audience might take some time to get into the mood of the film and a certain commercial sector might also find the film slow. However, Nimir has a simple yet natural and no-nonsensical story to tell. It has an artistic touch to it and talks a little about photography as well.
As for the casting, after Manithan, Udhayanidhi Stalin has chosen a good script, pulled off another neat performance and his character is quite subtle. Director Mahendran who plays Udhay's father does a commendable job with sheer experience. Samuthirakani and Parvatii Nair create the necessary impact. MS Bhaskar does what he is best at and keeps the humour and emotional quotients sailing.
You also have Karunakaran, who cracks a joke now and then. Namitha Pramod steals the show in the latter half of the film with her expressions and is definitely here to stay. Her screen presence, beauty, and reactions are additives while her dialogue delivery is clearly on point. Establishing Namitha Pramod’s character, motive and her romance with the protagonist could have been slightly more natural to suit the rest of the film’s mood.
Certain scenes that involve Udhayanidhi and Parvatii’s love track do not give us enough explanation but the necessity for the same does not seem too essential, hence not affecting the watcher. Priyadarshan deserves praise for bestowing a lot of maturity into most of his characters, namely Parvatii’s father and also Samuthirakani’s extended cameo. Both these characters at crucial points do not seem absurd and are level-headed, hence making progress towards forward thinking.
Tragedy-based scenes and jokes have been used in a couple of important scenes and these too, do not seem force-fitted. Other technicalities like music and background score are top class. Both Darbuka Siva and Ajaneesh Loknath seem to have given their best for Nimir and certain scenes have a really engrossing BGM to up the overall hazy mood of the film.
One might wonder if this sort of a film would go well with the commercial set of audience, who would expect fast-paced scenes from most of their movies. Nimir, though, has an intensity that would attract all kinds of watchers, even if it might seem a little less entertaining due to its offbeat pattern that stands out from commercial mass-driven films. The quicker you get into the skin and mood of Nimir, the sooner you would start enjoying its natural flow.
[Review based on a special preview show to the press members on January 24th. Catch the film in theatres, from the 26th of January]