The story is about a youngster, Prabhu, who tries to extricate himself from the affairs of some petty criminals after inadvertently getting mixed up. Rather bravely, the film does away with female characters, and is without any forced romantic tracks.
A former assistant of Mani Ratnam, Selvaraj handles his narration confidently. Even if the plot seems to be a bit wayward, especially in the second half, he redeems it with a couple of clever twists.
The earlier portions are about how Prabhu is lured into joining a petty gang of thieves, thanks to his ambition to travel abroad. As he slowly gets drawn into the mess, he realises his folly and tries to salvage his situation.
Just like the other release of this week, Attu, all the lead actors are debutants. In one hilarious scene, one of the characters, Anil, quips, ‘‘Life is beautiful!’’ as they lay their hands on ill-gotten money. This is contrasted with a similar line Prabhu says later.
The second half slackens on account of an unnecessarily lengthy episode about the gang selecting an impersonator for one of their missions. It starts off being amusing, but soon turns needlessly into an over-drawn sequence.
Naalu Perukku… has its fair share of twists towards the end, and ultimately, has more positives going for it than negatives. At just 120 minutes long, those bored of usual masala cinema could well find the film worth their while.
Film: Naalu Perukku Nallathuna Ethuvum Thappilla
Cast: Shariya, Karthikeyan, Evansri, Jagdish, Arvind, Arul Jothi
Director: Dinesh Selvaraj
Source: The New Indian Express