Enai Noki Paayum Thota Movie Review: A Gautham Vasudev Menon Film Flavoured In His Trademark Style!

Gautham Menon is among the very few filmmakers who have a loyal and genuine fan-following. With Enai Noki Paayum Thota, he is back after a short gap and this time, Dhanush joins him in the outing and the fans had a lot of reasons to rejoice. Does Enai Noki Paayum Thota have Gautham Menon's signature on it? Read our take on the movie to know further details.

Plot

Enai Noki Paayum Thota revolves around a youngster named Reghu, who falls in love with a girl named Lekha, an upcoming actress. A series of events lead him to another city where he has a few things to deal with, which includes saving his love as well as meeting his estranged brother.

Script & Direction

Enai Noki Paayum Thota is as much about bondage of siblings as it is about the love story between Raghu and Lekha. While the first half is devoted to establishing the relationship between the lead pair, the second half takes us through an emotional bond between the estranged brothers. Needless to say, the director scores like ever in the romantic portions, which are refreshing like in each of his previous movies.

Not many filmmakers could command a successful transition between romantic and thrill elements in a single film. Gautham Vasudev Menon is a master in that art and displays that skill aplenty in Enai Noki Paayum Thota. Right from the first frame, we get an idea about what we are into and he takes us for a ride, glazed in romance, emotions and plenty of action. The tricky non-linear narrative is safe in the director's hands and he adequately paces the film with swift changes between the past and the present.

However, Enai Noki Paayum Thota's writing isn't as solid as the director's much-appreciated movies. It needs to be said that GVM, the director, tries his best to lift the film whenever the script falls flat. Through his narrative pattern, he even fills in some voids, which would have looked odd in a plain narrative. There are some fabulous moments in the latter half, like the elevator scene and some other confrontation scenes with the villains. More of such sequences should have been there in the script, which would have added the required intensity. At the same time, it should be mentioned that the script has made it a point to fill in the loopholes but still such cover-ups do miss that wow factor.

Enai Noki Paayum Thota has been served in a typical Gautham Menon style with the film moving forward through the protagonists' voice-over. He even tweaks some of the dialogues interestingly to stay away from cliches. The narration offers occasional chuckles as well through such tweaked dialogues, which have been placed pretty well by the director. However, after a point of time, the monologue looks redundant and over-stretched. Here, he has depended too much on the voice-over, which affects the pace. For eg; the pre-climax portions spend too much time on the voice-over, which spoils the mood a bit.

Performances

Dhanush is apt as Raghu, the typical Gautham Menon hero, with whom every youngster would find a connect with, in some or the other part of the movie. The actor excels in the role and uses his vocals aptly for the voice-over portions. There is a hospital scene, where the director has opted for a long close-up shot and Dhanush simply stuns everyone with his performance. Megha Akash does full justice to the best role that she has got in her career, so far. She puts up a fine performance throughout the movie. Sasikumar too impresses with his extended cameo, a role which makes a mark throughout the film. The actors who play the baddies are top-notch. Sunaina too is a part of the star cast.

Other Aspects

Songs of the film are impressive and needless to say, Maruvarthai scores above all others. The BGM too looks solid and the best part is that there are no repetitions. Cinematography by Jomon T John and Manoj Paramahamsa. The editor needs to be applauded as he has come up with a convincing job even in a twisted, non-linear narrative.

Verdict

Ennai Noki Paayum Thota may not rank among the best works of the director so far, but still, it has everything in to please Gautham Menon fans to an extent and the filmmaker makes it a refreshing watch with his trademark narrative style, even though it gets repetitive at parts.