Review Overview
Performances
Story & Narration
Technical Aspects & Music
A solid, well-translated courtroom drama.
Nerkonda Paarvai is a solid, neatly executed courtroom drama that gets its end result right despite the humps and bumps. It is a well-intentioned film that stamps a strong note on the kinds of films that stars have to take up from time to time.
Starring: Ajith Kumar, Shraddha Srinath, Abhirami Venkatachalam, Andrea Tariang, Arjun Chidambaram, Adhik Ravichandran, Ashwin Rao, Sujith Shankar, Rangaraj Pandey & others ; Guest Appearance: Vidya Balan & Kalki Koechlin ; Director: H. Vinoth ; Produced by Boney Kapoor ; DOP: Nirav Shah ; Music Director: Yuvan Shankar Raja ; Art Director: K. Kadhir ; Editor: Gokul Chandran ; Stunts: Dhilip Subbarayan ; Pro: Suresh Chandra & Rekha D’one ; Run Time: 02:37:00 ; Release Date: 08-08-2019
When Ajith took up Pink, there were mixed reactions from the fans and the critics, on whether he would be able to handle such a subject and carry it on his shoulders. But dashing all the doubts away, the big man comes up with one of his career-best performances for a film that demands a strong show within a limited space. Nerkonda Paarvai is a solid, neatly executed courtroom drama that gets its end result right despite the humps and bumps.
Instead of going for a scene to scene remake, Vinoth makes minute tweaks here and there that helps the film slide into the nativity here, and also keeps it different from the original. A lot of these changes are reflected to Ajith’s character, which comes off with many memorable dialogues. Vinoth keeps Ajith’s mass image to the side but for the single sequence prior to the interval, and then makes him concentrate solely on the scenes inside the courtroom in the second half.
With Ajith firing on all cylinders, some better support could have come up from the supporting artists in the form of Shraddha and Abhirami who don’t quite live up to the potential. While Arjun Chidambaram is really good as the black-hearted in the room, Rangaraj Pandey’s eccentric mannerisms may not work with everybody. The casting does come in as a weak link in the film, being something that could have been worked on earlier as there will be lots of comparisons to the original.
Nirav Shah’s cinematography is true to the film, giving it what it needs. Yuvan Shankar Raja maintains his lion range to the electric action sequence and plays it right in the other scenes.
Overall, Nerkonda Paarvai does have some avoidable flaws (like Vidya Balan’s love track which could have been totally cut off) but on the whole, it is a well-intentioned film that stamps a strong note on the kinds of films that stars have to take up from time to time. Kudos to Ajith for taking it up, and that is the film’s best badge.