Nedunalvaadai Review: A Pleasant Surprise

There are various small budget movies that are released all year round. And, as they are being released alongside the big budget and big hero movies, most of them do not even get decent screens.

Having said that, a fair share of low budget movies end up so mediocre that the audience wouldn’t want to waste their time and money on.

In this scenario, Nedunalvaadai turned out to be a pleasant surprise! The movie has content that’s so concrete and is presented in a completely realistic manner.

CastDirectionGalleryOur Rating

Poo Ramu, Anjali Nair, Elango

Selvakannan

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4/5

The plot

The movie has a plot that’s so simple and pleasant that any audience can relate to.

We have a grandfather Chellaiah (Poo Ramu) who is loving and responsible. He is a simple farmer. He cares so much for the family.

He has a son Kombaiah (Mime Gopi) and daughter who elopes to get married to the love of her life who is a person from another cast.

Unfortunately her husband dies and she faces challenges to carry on with living with a daughter and a son Elango. So she returns to her dad.

Chellaiah, though unhappy about her act of eloping, takes her family in and starts to support them.

Kombaiah doesn’t like this! Chellaiah loves and supports the family of his daughter and takes care of the education of the grandchildren.

Elango, while in his study days, falls for a girl in the village (Anjali Nair).

We get to see his grandfather advising him about how important taking care of the family is and what his responsibilities are.

He warns him about the effects of falling in love at this age while he has to be responsible and supportive to the family.

How Elango tries to balance family and love and what happens thereafter forms the rest of the story.

Screenplay

While all this may sound dramatic, you won’t see any melodrama on screen.

The screenplay proceeds in a fluid manner, very smooth and steady.

It feels so fresh and pleasant and the writing is so concrete that you won’t feel as if you are watching a movie.

Each and every character is so beautifully written.

Even though there are numerous predictable moments in the movie, you would really want to enjoy and bond with the happenings on screen, rather than feel disappointed by the script.

All the characters, each and every sequence and the movie as a whole is so realistic.

Acting by cast

All the actors have performed surprisingly well. Poo Ramu definitely steals the show with his matured acting.

Elango perfectly fits into the role of a youngster who is torn between two extremes – feelings of love and family responsibilities.

Anjali Nair is one of those rare findings who neatly slips into the role as if she is not acting and just living the character.

Mime Gopi has done various stereotypical roles, but this one is to look out for.

Technicals

The movie is a crowdfunded one. We have a production banner that constitutes 50 persons (friends of the director) and they deserve an applause for backing up this project without any expectations.

Since the budget is limited and since the movie had to face quite some challenges (like the casts for the lead roles left the project mid-way), director Selvakannan deserves an applause for holding on tight to the script with hope.

And that has really paid off!

Camera work by Vinoth Rathinasamy is brilliant.

I don’t think a lot of tools and effects are used due to budget limitation, but you cannot feel any of it on screen.

Through the camera, Vinoth literally takes us to the family on screen, the village, the farm and their emotions.

Jose Franklin has done a commendable job in BGM that helps us to bond with the mood of the movie and to the emotions of the characters.

Final verdict

In one word, well two words – pleasantly surprising.

Tamil cinema industry needs more movies like these where we can take a lot of useful messages and connect to those rare affectionate feelings.

Hats off to the team.

I highly recommend you to go and watch Nedunalvaadai in theatres both for the genuine attempt of the director and as well as for the goodness the movie delivers.