Movie Review: Nanban

Two friends Venkat(Srikanth) and Senthil(Jeeva) goes in search of their best friend Pari(Vijay) ten years after graduating from engineering college. Venkat and Senthil owes their success to Pari who taught them to pursue their passion without worrying about results, helped them find their inner strengths and also gave them the magic mantra "All is well". By now, you would have realized this is a remake of 3 Idiots which was massacred by the reviewers but loved by audience all over India.

Shankar directs the Tamil remake of 3 Idiots. I am not going to ask why Shankar, with a diametrically opposite sensibility (especially regarding the look and feel of a movie) from Rajkumar Hirani, would want to make a remake of this movie. A major section of Indians have already watched this movie due to the aggressive marketing strategy and also the controversies which surfaced right after the release. Moreover, the original's strength lies in the simple way of presenting an important message. Simple is not something you associate with Shankar.

Shankar gets two things correct with this remake. First and the foremost, he does not tamper with the original screenplay. He goes for a scene by scene adaptation. The second is the casting. The casting might not be perfect but this is the best you can get. The casting cannot be perfect because of the impact of the original. The actors in the original were perfect. With Shankar at the helm, there are changes to the original in subtle but noticeable way. CGI is more pronounced in this movie. The song are shot in a different way. There is an extra song being inserted to make Vijay fans happy. There are major negatives to the movie - direct translation of Hindi dialogues to Tamil, actors imitating the actors of the original version and the comic timing of the three lead players. The first is forgivable. The second and the third reduces the impact of the funny scenes for a viewer who has already seen the original.

Out of the performances, Vijay, Jeeva, Sathyaraj as Virus and Sathyan as Silencer fit the respective roles and gives their best. Interestingly, Vijay and Sathyan is only person who has brought some variation into their roles. Srikanth tries hard but fails in many key moments. Ileana ends up being a pretty face.

If you have seen the movie before, then the grand photography, the music or the CGI will not impress you. Like me, you will be searching for a DVD of "3 Idiots". If you do not understand Hindi and have not seen this movie before "3 Idiots", then you can watch it. This will be an entertaining movie for you.

Language: Tamil

Genre: Drama

Rating: ***



Comments

  1. i had seen the classic 3 idiots. still i want to see nanban to feel d shankar touch

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    1. There is no Shankar touch to this. It is a faithful copy of the original with a song thrown in

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  2. i am sad that you watched this film,,
    shankar is nothing but a plagiarist, he is like old wine in new(costly) bottle and sets up things like genius product.
    Vijay ?? lol.. can't imagine him as SCIENTIST or a good performer in academics :P lol lol lol !
    Jeeva and Sri wont have the flavor of artificiality...

    tough to watch i will say, can watch for SATHYARAJ.. at last he accepted that he is no more worth to act as HERO :P :P

    my personal rating as a tamilian *

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    1. I like Shankar and also Vijay. :) As for Sathyaraj, he is okay but not as great as Boman

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    2. yes, surpassing the real role is quite difficult task :)

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    3. Yes, not sure if any actor has succeeded in coming up with a performance better than the original actor in the remake.

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  3. Thanks for the review. u are right, if we have already seen 3 idiots, nanban might not look great.

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    1. :) Yes, you are right! Stay away from this

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  4. Shankar hav puts many comedy scenes compared to 3 idiots ! and it works very well ! Hats off to the Nanban team ! Aaaaaaaaaaall Iiiiiiizz Weeeelll for Vijay fans !! and Jiiva fans also !

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    1. Glad to hear you enjoyed the movie thoroughly. As for me, I find 3 Idiots much more fun.

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  5. I didn't like 3 idiots only, now there's a remake!

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    1. Wow! You are the first person I have met who didn't like 3 Idiots. :)

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  6. I didn't know that you are a Tamilian. There was too much gyan by the over confident AmrKhan, and although Madhavan is good actor , he too fat and old for the role, in fact both Amir and Madhavan look old for their roles, Kareena as usual cannot act. But the other characters fitted their roles especially Om and Boman.
    Remakes are always not so good.
    Tamil pictures are very good as far as comedy/ jokes are concerned, but I don't know about Nanban. Would wait till they air it on the TV.

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    1. I am not a Tamilian. :) But I watch Tamil movies

      I loved 3 Idiots. I have a different opinion about the movie. :)

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