Neram Malayalam Movie Review

Producer- Winner Bulls Films

Director- Alphons Puthran

Cast- Nivin Pauly, Nazriya Nazim, Simhaa, Shammi Thilakan, Laloo Aalex, Manoj K Jayan etc.

Music- Rajesh Murugesan

Review By : Unni R Nair (Kerala9.com )

‘Neram’ justifies the wait and expectations that were stirred by the pre-release promotions. I won’t say that it’s a must-watch film or great work or a unique or different film; but ‘Neram’, which is Editor Alphonse Puthren’s debut directorial venture, is definitely OK for a one-time watch. Made in the pattern of the so called ‘new generation’ films, ‘Neram’ would appeal to an extent to the younger generation and would most likely not attract the family audience.

I am sure you’d say you’ve seen it all before; yes, there’s nothing new about ‘Neram’. It’s the story of young Mathew (Nivin Pauly), who loses his IT job and faces financial problems. To get his sister married off, he borrows money from Vattiraja (Simhaa). Days and months have passed; Mathew had failed to return Vattiraja’s money and had been asking for extensions. Vattiraja, who’d go to any extent to get his money back, has given him a final deadline.

The story takes place on the day Mathew is to give the money to Vattiraja. He sets out, to get the money from his friend and hand it over to Vattiraja. In the meantime, Jeena (Nazriya Nazim), his lover, to whom he is already engaged and whose father Johnykutty (Laloo Aalex) is now rather reluctant to get his daughter married off to a jobless guy, leaves her home to live with Mathew. Johnykutty, when he realizes this, goes off to the police station, lodges a complaint that his daughter has been kidnapped by Mathew and asks the Inspector Ukken Tintu (Shammi Thilakan) to find his daughter. The Inspector promises to find Jeena by 5 pm. Jeena is waiting for Mathew when a thug snatches her gold chain and runs away. Mathew is attending a call when another thug snatches the money that he is to give Vattiraja, from his hand, and runs away. In the midst of all this, Mathew’s brother-in-law (Joju) lands up, thinking of borrowing some money from Mathew to start a new business; he expects Mathew to get him the money by 5 pm. An impatient and irritated Vattiraja calls up and asks Mathew to come with the money by 5 pm or face dire consequences. What all follows forms the rest of the plot…

So you know what it is all about! It’s in a funny and interesting manner that the whole story is narrated; though there is a lag at certain places, you don’t get bored and sit through the whole thing. Added to this is the advantage that the film has a running time of just about 110 minutes. The narrative, the performances, the way the different streams are merged makes it all interesting and definitely worth a watch. But, as mentioned earlier, the film won’t appeal to family audience or to those who swear dislike for ‘new generation films’. Well, I don’t believe in such a kind of classification, but of course there’s no denying that there exists now a trend in Mollywood to follow the so called ‘new generation’ pattern and think that whatever is made in this pattern is good, trendy and ‘new cinema’. Cinema, ‘new generation’ or not, loses out when it has no substance. ‘Traffic’ and ‘Beautiful’ were good because they were good and not just because they ascribed to a particular pattern. The films had substance. There are many examples of filmmakers trying to ape this pattern and failing miserably. To be honest, ‘Neram’ is neither here nor there as regards this; it falls somewhere in between and is partially OK, but just about OK.

Performance 

Nivin is good as Mathew; Nazriya has nothing much to do and looks good. I was just wondering why she is made to render dialogues in such an artificial and soft manner, sans all emotions. I liked Simhaa, though we have seen many such characters before. Shammi Thilakan is his usual self. Manoj K Jayan, who appears towards the end of the film, is his usual self and does justice to his role. The others don’t have much to do.

Technical aspects

Let me begin with a negative. Alphonse Puthran, who edits the film as well, should have seen to it, as the editor, that it is a bit slicker. The lag that comes up at places could and should have been avoided. Good work from the side of Anend C Chandran, the cinematographer.

Music

Background score suits the mood; songs composed by Rajesh Murugesan are trendy and would appeal to the youth. Anyway, the songs won’t stay in your memories for long; they’d simply get deleted from there once more such songs come up…

Script

Alphonse Puthran does justice to the script, in the sense that he pens the script in a way as suits the subject. He has put in ingredients that would appeal to the youth; he has handled the humour in a good way. Good work I’d say, on the script side…But next time, I would expect him to try out something new, something that’s not said before and choose a format that suits the subject…

Direction

Alphonse Puthran is in full control as the director. As a person with enough of technical experience, Alphonse manages to come up with a film that’s technically good and watchable. The lags are pardonable. But I sincerely wish Alphonse tries to do better next time. Such a director and technician can deliver good work if he chooses to do films with substance…

Verdict- Good for one-time watch; especially for the young generation…

 Rating: 2.5/5