Nannbenda (2015)

In Oru Kal Oru Kannadi, Udhayanidhi Stalin played a carefree guy who starts wooing a girl after meeting her on the road. In Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal, he played an amiable fellow who is determined to win the heart of a young woman. In Nannbenda, he plays a happy-go-lucky young man who falls in love at first sight and starts pursuing her. Based on his three films so far, you might not be wrong if you think Udhayanidhi Stalin is repeating the same character. Like Gautham Menon, who has admitted that the heroes of his cop trilogy (Kaakha Kaakha, Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu and Yennai Arindhaal) are an extension of the same character, maybe, Udhayanidhi's characters in his three films are one and the same. These three films should, perhaps, be called Three City Trilogy, given that each of these films is set in one particular city (Chennai, Coimbatore and now, Trichy).

The film actually opens in the least-expected way with Udhayanidhi's character Sathya and his friend Sivakozhundhu (Santhanam, obviously) breaking out of prison. We are told that they had been in prison for killing someone and are now planning another murder. And then, we get the flashback, which reassures us that everything is going to be as expected. Sathya comes to Trichy to meet Sivakozhundhu but is love-struck seeing Ramya ( Nayanthara). So, he chooses to remain in the city, woo her and marry her. She starts reciprocating but when she opens up to him on her past, Sathya just ridicules her for giving weight to a non-issue that threatens to break apart their relationship.

Nannbenda's beats are very familiar but thankfully, the film knows it too and doesn't take itself seriously unlike Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal. This gives it a lighthearted vibe and director Jagadesh manages to keep the tone cheery for the most parts. Every time the film threatens to become heavy on drama — like the interval block, when Ramya tells Sathya that she has spent time in prison for murder — he immediately lightens the mood. When we learn of Ramya's past after the intermission, all we can do is chuckle and roll our eyes at the sheer ludicrousness of it, but the film, too, is aware of how absurd it is.

The director also doesn't strain too much to make things humorous and Santhanam is in form here, chipping in with his one-liners to ensure that the laughs don't dry up. But the film lacks comedy sequences that are riotously funny (say, like the airplane scene in Oru Kal Oru Kannadi) and some of the supporting characters and arcs — the hatred Sathya and Sivakozhundhu's schoolmate Thangadurai, a cop, has for them; two warring rowdies; a robber gang that Ramya exposes — are not as interesting or funny as they could have been. The film could also definitely lose a couple of songs (though, this is one of Harris Jayaraj's better works in recent times) and be all the more better for it. But it exploits formula to the hilt and like a well-oiled machine, does what it set out to be.