Naandhi Movie Review: A good premise failed by formulaic storytelling

Movie Name: Naandhi 

Cast: Allari Naresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Harish Uthaman and others

Director: Vijay Kanakamedala 

Rating: 2

Director Vetrimaaran's 'Visaranai' (2015) sparked a debate around how police high-handedness and the apathy of the system brutalizes the vulnerable sections of society. 'Naandhi', the film under review, has a similar theme. Unlike the critically-acclaimed 'Visaranai', however, this one comes with the features of a commercial potboiler, especially in the second half. While telling a mainstream David vs Goliath tale is not an inferior thing in itself, this film is way too simplistic and, in a shocking way, ironic. 

Surya Prakash (Allari Naresh), a software engineer, is looking at settling down in life with his loving parents and a dreamgirl-like wife. This is when he is accused of killing a politician out of nowhere. A bad cop (played by Harish Uthaman) locks him up without a trial. The film takes a five-year leap and we see a distraught Surya Prakash, who is dead from the inside after going through unspeakable torture. In comes Aadhya (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar), an honest lawyer with a fighting spirit. Is there hope for the victim?

The central theme of the film is that the criminal justice system is excruciatingly sluggish and compromised. This is highlighted through the first half, where we see the male protagonist being condemned to darkness because none would hear his side of the story. Justice is delayed. Justice, needless to say, is denied. But the same film, without a sense of irony, shows the same accursed system as magically swift in the second half! Because, we are told, such is the power of Section 211 of the IPC. It's just laughable! 

The Good vs Evil battle in the very many segments of the second half comes undone due to mundane ideas. A life threat here, a CCTV footage-powered legal evidence there. A land scam here, a cardboard politician there. 

The villains are underwritten characters who speak in an ultra-familiar tongue. Much as performers like Vinay Varma and Harish Uthaman are endearing, they don't shine through the template-driven storytelling. 

The courtroom scenes are invigorated by Varalaxmi Sarathkumar's effective acting. She is also joined by the formidable Srikanth Aiyyengar, who plays the prosecution lawyer. But certain done-to-death tropes rob the well-acted scenes of their vitality. From call recordings to CCTV footage that are conveniently available, the laziness in the writing is irredeemable.

It is refreshing that this film has got a strong female character in Aadhya. To its credit, the film leverages Sricharan Pakala's top-class music properly. The montage songs/background notes save whole scenes. That said, despite coming armed with an interesting storyline, 'Naandhi' resorts to cheap tricks like misleading the audience with a fake twist (read the interval scene). 

Naresh, whose talent for playing underdog roles (like in 'Maharshi') is commendable, carries the film on his shoulders. Priyadarshi, in the role of a funny YouTuber with an itch for clickbaity headlines, is convincing.

Watch the film's trailer below:

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