This Gen-Z love story does better with the “com” portions than the “rom” portions, which needed to dig deeper. But overall, it keeps you smiling. The rest of this review contains spoilers.
In Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam (NEEK), Dhanush’s nephew Pavish plays someone like his uncle, the director of this lightweight rom-com. His character’s name is Prabhu, just like Dhanush’s given name is Venkatesh Prabhu. Like Dhanush in real life, Prabhu wants to become a chef. Like Dhanush in his early films, the chocolate-skinned Prabhu has to face a fair, “Hindi film hero”-type competitor for his love – basically, a “Selvaraghavan second hero”. And like Dhanush in many of his celebrated films, the middle-class Prabhu faces heartbreak. That, in fact, is what opens the movie – the visual of Prabhu dancing to a song about love failure. GV Prakash Kumar’s music is peppy, and it sounds like Dhanush really sat in on the composing sessions. They sound just like the songs you’d find in a younger-Dhanush movie.
I could go on with the Dhanush references. For instance, a character talks about Mudhal Mariyadhai, which Dhanush has said is his favourite film. But there’s a twist. Unlike Dhanush, this character is a Rahman fan who thinks Rahman is the best. She is playfully punished by an Ilaiyaraaja fan who tells her that there is no “best” in all this, and we should just enjoy the music. Another twist is Prabhu’s father-character, played by Naren. He is a kind, loving man who speaks highly of his son. At times, you may wonder if NEEK is Dhanush talking about his life the way it unfolded, or whether it’s his life the way he wished it had unfolded. Either way, it’s his attempt at making something bubblegummy, something fresh and young and lighthearted like Premalu, something without blood and gore. For some, this (combined with a crisp running time) may be enough.
The first half-hour is very good, mainly because of the character of Preethi, played by Priya P Varrier. Like Shobana in Thiruchitrambalam, she is a wonderful antidote to the chirpy, bubbly heroines in our cinema. Preethi is a smart, no-nonsense woman who knows that falling in love is different from getting married. She asks Prabhu many questions about him and his friends, because this is the man she may have to spend the rest of her life with. (It’s an arranged marriage situation.) I wanted an entire rom-com built around Prabhu and Preethi, but then we discover the reason behind the title. I thought it was just a nod to the hit song by Viswanathan-Ramamurthy, but it turns out that Prabhu knew a girl named Nila (Anikha Surendran). And we slip into a rich girl-poor boy romance.
The rest of NEEK is not as promising and inspired as the portions with Prabhu and Preethi. Dhanush, the writer, keeps trying to tweak the cliches. We get a rich father who’s described as an “80’s villain” – but the man, played by Sarath Kumar, turns out to be more vulnerable than you think. For a stock character, you see the attempt to give him some shades. There is a melodramatic sacrifice that leads to a breakup, but again, Preethi pops in to give Prabhu this advice about his ex. “Clear your mind, first. Find out if you still have feelings for this girl, and then we can talk about our marriage.” I think a lot of people are going to find themselves cheering for Team Preethi, as opposed to Team Nila.
The basic idea that a man should “clear his head” of exes before getting married is solid. But NEEK does not want to handle too much heavy-lifting. It wants to stay light, and this becomes both a plus and a minus. The minus is that the melodramatic contrivances (there’s a lot in the second half) feel rushed and too convenient. They are not properly built up to, and the young actors aren’t up to the demands of scenes with weeping and wringing hands. And even at this length, there’s a sense of the plot being dragged, with a new love interest and so forth. Who invites an ex to their wedding, in the first place? An explanation would have rooted the second half a little more. (But maybe I missed this!) While I appreciate the effort to keep things light and lively, some of the dramatic choices about Gen-Z love demand that the writing digs deeper, and when that doesn’t happen, it feels incomplete: like a half-cooked meal, as Prabhu might say.
But the comedy works big-time. Mathew Thomas is the real star of NEEK. He’s too good an actor to play the hero’s best friend and I hope he doesn’t get typecast, but here, you don’t feel he is “just a sidekick”. Prabhu’s emotional tangles may drive the plot, but this is an ensemble movie that respects all its characters. Everyone (including Venkatesh Menon, Rabiya Khatoon, Ramya Ranganathan) leaves an impression. But Mathew Thomas steals the show with his romantic revelation, which turns out to be a running gag that keeps on giving. Plus, on the dramatic side, this revelation is a terrific reminder that we are sometimes so obsessed with our own problems that we don’t see the point of view of the people close to us. At one point, Prabhu is asked whether he’d choose his girlfriend or his male BFF. When he replies, you feel it’s the right answer.
When I saw a frantic stretch set at an airport, I felt that maybe this is the zone the film was going for. But flaws and all, NEEK is another example that Dhanush is an all-round director, someone who leaves his stamp on not just music and lyrics but on every aspect of a film. This is a world that moves easily between middle-class homes and karuvaattu kuzhambu and people who like massages, wine, and pasta. Nothing feels out of place. The songs are staged beautifully, and Leon Britto’s frames keep finding ways to add more depth and colour to the scenes. And yet, there’s a lovely sense of darkness in the mood of the cinematography, like an undercurrent. (This was there in Thiruchitrambalam, too.) NEEK is not perfect, but even in its present form, it leaves you smiling. That’s a lot more than what many movies do these days.
