I was surprised to see some posters of Naane Varuven in newspapers recently claiming "Repeat Audience". When I watched the movie after 6 days after its release, the theatre had 20% occupancy. This was not the small multiplex screens but Santham (one of the big screens in Chennai). Despite being a comeback for Dhanush - Selvaraghavan - Yuvan combo after many years and decent reviews, the movie is not doing well in theatres. Surprised by what went wrong with this film? Before that let's review it.
The film starts with a prologue showing twins Prabhu and Kathir's childhood. Their parents think Kathir has some mental problems and punish him often. However, he does not seem to have any remorse and eventually runs away from home. He encounters another psychopath killer (Selvaraghavn himself) on his way and develops a similar character. After some incidents, as expected the twins split away. Prabhu (Dhanush) is now leading a normal life in Chennai with his wife Bhuvna (Induja) and daughter Sathya (Hiya). Sathya slowly gets possessed by a spirit that wanted Prabhu to help it achieve its objective. This leads him back to his estranged twin Kathir (played again by Dhanush).
Story-wise, there is nothing much new in Naane Varuven. But the treatment is different and very different in some places. I liked the approach of having a bunch of youngsters trying to do the exorcism. However, those scenes are very limited (which is a negative). It would have been better if they were also part of the later half when Prabhu meets Kathir. Dhanush rocks the role of Kathir effortlessly and his scenes post-interval is a revelation. As Prabhu, he plays a very subdued role as a caring middle-aged father. The girl who plays the role of Sathya has done very well. It's a difficult role but she looked very genuine without exaggeration (despite being possessed). Camerawork and BGM work are big support for the films.
On the negative, I felt the climax was rushed. There is an extended portion where Madhuri (wife of Kathir, played by Eli Avram) tries to escape from their house. These were interesting. It would have helped if such thrilling sequences were filmed between Prabhu and Kathir after they meet. However, what we get instead is a simple fistfight. Unfortunately, the spirit does not have any power in this film. Very limited characters and locales give the film an OTT feel. Despite these limitations, I felt Naane Varuven was a decent watch.
So what went wrong with the collections? Starting from the title (refer the photos attached in this post) and the initial promos, it was clear that Naane Varuven is going to be a mass film. Even the teaser did not reveal much of the content instead glorified the hero and his activities. I felt the title was not apt for the film at all. The initial promotions misled the people including Dhanush fans. They were surprised that this was more of a horror cum thriller genre. By the time the audience could accept this change and realize the good parts, Ponniyin Selvan tsunami washed away the film completely. Was it the wrong timing of the release? Definitely yes. I don't know what the makers were thinking by releasing it one day before Mani Ratnam's magnum opus. Yes, even I thought initially it was a good bet and could emerge as a dark horse if and only if PS1 failed. But neither is this film a dark horse (with one of the leading actors and a huge fan-following director) nor did PS1 fail.
If marketed well and released later, this could have been easily another 100 Cr film for Dhanush.
Rating - 2.5 / 5
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