Natpe Thunai Review: Inconsistent writing and sub-plots dilute the movie

Natpe Thunai is the kind of a movie which works in parts. You cannot conclude if the movie is good or not.

It works great in some areas, while completely falls flat in other areas.

There is a certain type of audience who will truly enjoy this movie – the twenty something youngsters as they can relate to many things in the movie.

Story

There are plots and sub-plots in the movie. So you do not get to see what the movie is about for the most part.

There is a sports angle, a friendship angle, “being a Tamil” angle, “giving importance to agriculture” angle and the “corporates are deadly” angle too!

Since the movie deals with so many things, you feel dissatisfied with the movie as a whole as you don’t get to enjoy any angle in full.

Adhi plays Prabhakaran a jolly guy from Pondicherry. He is fond of Hockey and is an international player, but he discontinues for a reason.

Now he takes it up again for a good cause. There are a bunch of serious Hockey players who practice in a ground.

And there is a corporate company that is about to take up that land for a commercial cause.

Politician Harichandran (Karu Palaniappan) helps the company do it.

Prabhakaran comes into picture and helps the team with keeping their practice ground.

Acting by cast

Adhi perfectly fits the character of an easy going guy! He casually pulls off the scenes that are jolly type.

But when the movie gets serious, he seems a bit off!

Karu Palaniappan’s performance of a politician is awesome. He holds the screen with his presence and dialogue delivery.

Anagha plays Adhi’s girlfriend and performs neatly. But sadly, there’s not much scope to her character.

There are other supporting characters that do their jobs neatly.

Screenplay

The first half of the movie wanders off in different directions but moves on a light note.

There’s not much seriousness and we somewhat feel detached and bored of seeing scenes seen in many movies.

Post interval the movie takes up a serious path and makes us root for the characters.

However due to the various other little sub-plots, and “issues” discussed, the screenplay looks very distracted and rushed.

For instance, we are presented with one issue, and then before that’s sorted out, we are presented with another and so on.

The screenplay thus switches gears and makes the movie inconsistent.

Technicals

Background music goes well with the scenes of different tempo. In particular, the BGM helps elevate the sports mood in the Hockey match scenes.

The songs don’t help the movie much and act as a speed breaker for sure.

Cinematography by Aravinnd Singh is neat and perfect. Both candid moments and heated up serious moments are perfectly captured and delivered.

Editing, however, gives us an inconsistent feel – the switching gears between various issues is not at all smooth and looks rushed.

Overall

Natpe Thunai may only appeal to the youngster audience. Others may find it off and may not be able to relate to many scenes.

Having said that the scenes related to the sports angle work out really well and they look authentic.

Too many plots/angles infused in the movie gives us an inconsistent feel and makes it hard for us to follow the movie as a whole.

For the same reason, Natpe Thunai only works in parts. Certain plots/angles are totally unnecessary for the story and are there for the sake of it.

Natpe Thunai is a one time watch. Had the writers focused more on one angle (the sports angle), the movie would have been a flick that satisfies the audience!