The movie 'Nanban' (a tamil remake of bollywood blockbuster '3 idiots') is one of the highly expected movies of 2012. The reason for the expectations are Director Shankar doing a remake, Ilayathalapathy Vijay in a different role, Harris teaming up with Vijay for the first time and the list goes on.
To be very frank, the film 'Nanban' lives up to its expectations for the people who've already watched the classic movie '3 idiots'. However it is an enjoyable experience for the people who are watching it for the first time. Though it is not a high-budget Shankar's format film, he delivers what he is good at i.e. the screen presence. There are so many chances for VJ fans to have a huge smile and rejoice, since their hero has delivered what he is good at. Shankar has brought out the tremendous acting skills of Vijay, who has done justice to the role played by Aamir Khan in 3 idiots.
The story travels very smoothly in such a way that one doesn't yawn for a 3 hour movie. I don't want to say the familiar story again and bore everyone. There are not much changes to the script, as it was only a song and few scenes added to suit the taste of tamil audience. If it is not shankar, i worry that any other director in kollywood would've done it with so ease without spoiling the original script.
Considering the performances, i would say this movie is the best of vijay's career. The actor has done so well, underplaying in many situations giving importance to other characters in the movie. He stands tall in comedy and romance scenes. The other characters like Jiiva, Srikanth, Sathyaraj, Sathyan has also excelled with their performances. The only character which doesn't suit well to the script is Ileana D'cruz (Kareena might have done better than her which makes me feel like that). There are many scenes in the movie which can make you laugh loudly and also cry. By the way, its an enjoyable experience towards the end.
Camera work by Manoj Paramahamsa and Music by Harris Jayaraj are the others to be appreciated. Madhan karky's dialogues are outstanding. To the end, it is the complete effort of a team to present such a wonderful script to the tamil audience with ease and finally the attempt succeeds and pays off.
People those who've watched '3 idiots' can enjoy this movie, if they go with zero expectations. Whereas, the first time viewers will surely be excited and surprised with this effort. A must watch for everyone.
My rating: 4.5/5