Perhaps for the first time, the voiceovers feel not just like inner thoughts, but also contain fragments of information that make us anticipate things.
Spoilers ahead…
You can read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/enai-noki-paayum-thota-movie-review-gautham-menon-and-dhanush-give-us-a-fine-romance-that-slides-into-a-generic-action-thriller/
After a long time, there’s a genuine, all-out romance on screen. I mean, yes, last week we got Adithya Varma but that, of course, was in a completely different zone. Enai Nokki Paayum Thota is about a girl and a boy and all the delicate shades in their relationship that slowly transforms from friendship to full-on love. The usual way to shoot a girl on a swing is to show her throwing her head back and laughing, imagine (just) her feet suddenly appearing in the frame, propelled by a swing that remains blocked by a wall! That’s the kind of delicacy I’m talking about. We use the word “bloom” while talking about this genre: we say “a romance bloomed between them”. That’s the sense Gautham Vasudev Menon imbues this relationship with, the sense of something blossoming petal by fragrant petal.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
krish
November 29, 2019
Good entertainer. No doubt about it.
Anyone else felt a breaking bad vibe? You expect something and something else happens and …
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meera
November 29, 2019
Am happy ENPT got released. BR sounds “relieved” that he got a decent film from GVM.. because he knows what this director is capable of. ☺️
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MANK
November 29, 2019
Finally, after all the troubles the movie is here and so is the great review
Hope this succeeds and give the much needed breathing space to GVM. . Now looking forward to dhruvanachathiram
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brangan
November 29, 2019
MANK / Meera: I think I am going to be in the minority with this one — though I agree that the action/thriller part is weaker.
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deepakm1989
November 29, 2019
BR, I agree with you that it was a good movie, but I was really disappointed with the cranky portions of the second half. You never really understand what the bad guys were doing, how this guy who adopts this girl has connections to under world, what was the actual angle to how Sasikumar becomes the guy caught between the underworld and why police are after him, with himself being the police.. I mean, a lot is portions felt so rushed, I thought the writing was lazy there, which was surprising because this is a GVM movie.. It felt as if GVM just wanted to brush these pressing questions away but they are integral to the plot that I felt a little… cheated…
Another interesting aspect is the great use of voice overs. I thought it was really really well done. Also, I was instantly reminded of the Showtime series, ‘Dexter’ where there is a great use of voice overs through which we get to understand the mind of its lead, who is a serial killer. I hope when you get a chance to interview him for his next interview you ask him what his inspiration was for the voice overs over his movies..
Overall after a good first half, I felt a bit let down by the second half but it would still make a great one time watch flick for sure.
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gnanaozhi
November 29, 2019
@krish won’t that be ASOIAF? That’s the trope busting work that’s signature is red herrings.
@mank yes, the Tamil cine industry needs a classy, intelligent, well made spy / action thriller and DN could possibly be it.
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harish ram
November 29, 2019
Agree with all the points mentioned by you. However, I am surprised you weren’t troubled by many of the choices GVM made here: Sasikumar’s hotel saviour act reminding the Kamal’s hotel scene in VV; the chase being a rehash of AYM’s chase; the overdone staccato in dialogues; non-sync song choreography; unnecessary Sunaina character; and so on.
Even after discounting them, I probably got disconnected the most when Lekha explained her disappearance to Raghu. Firstly it was cliched. I thought GVM will spin it differently with how Raghu treats her return to his life. But Raghu comes up with the ‘men are short-tempered people’ angle and moves on. The love story IMO doesn’t evolve beyond the initial attraction we see in the college with the changing phase of life. I am not expecting great depths here. But a little arc would have worked. Having said that, this is a perennial problem with GVM films.
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KaaviyaThalagani
November 30, 2019
Hey! Even when I wrote about Visiri somewhere, I wrote on the exact shot of her feet on the swing peeping out. Lovely in all the right ways. So glad you noticed it!
And I also think we’re in the minority when it comes to the voiceover in this one. I found it much sharper than his usual background talk. The point where I fully embraced it was the logic he gives us after she meets his parents. “Avanglukku avala pidichu pochu, yen na avala vida ENNA avunglukku romba pidikum” Beauty! There’s a world of sync and understanding there 🙂
Even personally, it’s verbatim how I reasoned out why my parents sorted out their differences to finally accept the woman in my life. Call it bias but he really got the couple right with this one. I loved how much fun Dhanush had in a suit in Hey Nijame just surprising her, crashing her set, dancing in after-parties and spending the night with her. This is smooth hero behavior!
Other than Kamal, I haven’t seen any star up their game for the heroine as well as this 😀
After the first half, I didn’t care for the action track AT ALL and right from the psycho doctors in Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu, his villains are constantly and increasingly dumb dodos. But I still walked out really happy.
Coz this whole urban, delicate – intimacy space he handles better than 99% directors and their banter / beats here are quite cheeky and wonderful in a way that also rings true to their age.
After a long time, it felt singularly like Gautham in that he wasn’t trying to catch zingers like Mani Ratnam or get whistles through the hero’s gaze. Even stuff like “Ava kazhuthala naan vaazhnthirukken” feels honest in the life-and-death context of the previous scene.
Quite a shame that he couldn’t stick the landing after such strong sauce.
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KaaviyaThalagani
November 30, 2019
^Having said all that though, he also left in the shot of the heroine throwing her head back on the swing, right after 😀
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shaviswa
November 30, 2019
Looks like other reviewers also felt the same. Very good first half and a less engaging second half.
But most people hated the voice overs
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Ak
November 30, 2019
Really disliked the movie. Some of the voice overs and dialogues were so cringey they were trolled and laughed at in the theatre I watched it in.
Only in GVMs movies do these fantasy parents live, who dont question a 19 year old son when he brings home a girlfriend to live with them, that too in Pollachi. The whole son running away angle didnt work for me either. Just ripped off from VA, the grieving son resurfaces as a cop. The relationship between the brothers was so underdeveloped, I felt cold when the older brother died, it had no impact on me. Lots of other moments are inspired from his previous movies. Stitching together some GVMisms doesnt make a screenplay.
How does Lekha fall for Raghu in the first place? Who are they when they re not awkward making out, what makes them click? Raghu and lekha barely have a conversation the whole movie. Why cant our filmmakers come up with a meet-cute without love at first site? Will any woman in this time and age just invite any strange man to her birthday party and start dirty dancing with him? Come on! Can we please see some believable women on screen?!!
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SingaRoma
November 30, 2019
Ak – You nailed it, really! Yours is the first comment that exactly mirrors my thoughts about the movie as Well as the reactions in the theater – and no, I did not watch it in a single screen – watched it at a pretty classy multiplex and trust me, the classy audience was trolling the voice overs and the ultra shallow romance scenes. Irrespective of that, it was quite a feat to sit through this unbelievable mess from GVM IMHO! As quite an ardent fan from the Minnale days, I was utterly disappointed- for the want of a half-decent storyline and voice overs are fine – as long as it’s not overdone. Here it was super super excessive. And again, the majority do not have to be always wrong. GVM has hardly returned – a plot that’s almost the same as the even worse AYM with the stereotypical GVM parents, thangachi, English fake-sounding dialogues, same NEPV college location. The catastrophe for me was truly the songs – the way they were butchered with the visuals. I understand that Maruvaarthai fit in perfectly with that situation etc but somehow, with all the hype about this number – the visuals just didn’t do any justice to the song. And what a vain and colorless romance. Same “Ava romba divine” “Ava yen veetukku vandha” “Kann imai pola kaapen” – which urban guy talks like that even by any leaps of imagination!
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Mraj
December 1, 2019
First time, in a GVM film, heroine didn’t work for me, attraction is fine but hardly conversations between them and that was uninteresting for me, in fact i liked Sunaina though she comes for few minutes, she is an independent woman, friendly and the warmth she shows when he gets back with his GF helps to like that character. It was an outright Dhanush film and second half worked better than first half for me. NEP was any day a better movie if only he hadn’t kept too many songs annoying, but still this was way better than AYM. Had no issues with voice over, seemed like a mind voice which was pretty normal.
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nagendran chenthuran
December 1, 2019
Frankly, I couldn’t sit through the movie at all because I couldn’t buy a single scene. I get that Ragu & Lekha was kind of a love at first sight but there’s not a single scene to buy that romance. Instead there are like four songs with mostly pictured of them going at it. I felt Raghu’s parents characters were inspired from Aishwarya Rai’s mom from jeans since they looked like they were faking a mouna viratham throughout the movie. Also the voiceovers failed for me, unlike the usual GVM movies cos I felt Danush’s voice sounded bland ( I could sense sense Danush rushing through the dubbing in six hours, as GVM said in an interview). And finally my biggest problem was Lekha, personally think Megha Akash is a terrible actress, in the movie shes portrayed as an actress who hates acting. I wish it’s the same in real life too and sincerely hope one God damn Raghu comes to save her and us.
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MANK
December 1, 2019
Ayyo, This was very disappointing. some good scenes here and there , but overall Bland and repetitive,
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Honest Raj
December 1, 2019
and it’s fantastic that her name appears in a font that’s equal in size to Dhanush’s; her role is equally important
Hmm…
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Honest Raj
December 1, 2019
“Ava kazhuthala naan vaazhnthirukken”, “Ava romba divine”, “Kann imai pola kaapen”.
IMHO, nothing can beat “Anga dhaan vaazhanum enna ketteengana” (at the 32:18 mark)
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meera
December 2, 2019
@MANK: suffice to say that your post was true to the MANK FAN in me 😂 like you mentioned I’ve always felt that voice overs in GVMs film felt like a lazy tool… I’ve never felt that to be a impressive tool at all… only voice overs that ever worked are from Kamal movies(specifically unnal mudiyum Thampi) and a few more (can’t rem).. it added a lot more depth(?) to the characters psyche but in gvms, I’ve always felt that it could be visually presented but the director took the easy way out… I’ve written off gvm… Infact even his interviews feel very farce.. I won’t blame Dhanush for the dubbing or anything.. it’s a crime of any director wastes the time and effort of any actor let alone Dhanush.. if he can’t write a full script.. then..
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Amit Joki
December 2, 2019
Firstly, there’s just eye contact between two good-looking people in the cinema’s universe. They check each other out. It’s a pity that we don’t know what Lekha thinks because she doesn’t have voiceovers like Raghu does but it suffices to say, she doesn’t mind him checking her out.
Secondly, from Lekha’s perspective where she’s surrounded by yes-men of her guardian who’s forcing her to act, Raghu is the one to sense trouble and ask her about it. There’s still no romance between them two.
Thirdly, Lekha wants to spend more time with Raghu and asks Raghu to drop her off and Raghu plays hard to get.
All the above scenes are the cute-meet and there’s no “love at first sight”. For how a love at first sight works in Tamil cinema, look at Dhanush’s own Padikkathavan where he falls heads over heels for Tamannah. That’s love at first sight. This is not.
This is more like love at 4th sight, with 2 or more conversations in between. It is easy for us to understand why Raghu likes Lekha because she’s attractive but Lekha falls in love not just because he is too, but Lekha is like a girl drowning with no one there to help her and Raghu throws her a lifeline.
Before Raghu, I can imagine the depressed life Lekha was living with her guardian constantly trying different ways to get into her pants. Raghu is probably her first chance at a normal life in God knows how many years long and it is not too hard to buy that she grabs it the first chance she gets.
I officially hate theatres. The audience were trolling the voiceovers. It is a bit too much to get comfortable about at the start but the voiceovers are not just there for the sake of GVMisms.
If you are careful about what they convey, it conveys a totally different Raghu.
We are getting two perspectives of Raghu – How he thinks and what he does. And they’re not always the same. What he thinks is comedic, a bit juvenile perhaps. His mind is calm even when physically he’s in a tumultous circumstance Take for example how he reminisces about Lekha’s neck when she’s at knife point. It may be WTF moment, but it is what Raghu is.
This character trait is again shown when Raghu gets shot and the voiceover goes like, “Naa joke sonnen. Avan sirikkala. Suttutan.” Again, it shows how Raghu thinks and makes of such situations.
There’s lot of such character-exploration that’s done through voiceovers if only we didn’t let our mind shut down the idea in first place.
As for the review, this is the most satisfactory review of a Dhanush film for me since Maryan/Raanjhanaa and I concur with every point.
But https://maniprabhuwrites.wordpress.com/2019/11/29/enai-nokki-paayum-thota-movie-review-gvm-returns-to-form-in-a-very-personal-and-terrifically-written-genre-film this review is more delicious. I never thought I’d rate a review above BR’s but this one is right up there.
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Ramesh
December 2, 2019
The film is basically a rehash of AYM,VV,KK(bad/passable movies of GVM).. GVM is a very mediocre story teller whos all style without substance.. his action sequences or romantic sequences, voice overs have become stale..If u see Kaaka Kaaka today , the film looks so substandard including performances.. his actors speak english and so he is seen as some kind of elitist..Will anyday take Vetrimaran or Mysskin over GVM.
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shaviswa
December 2, 2019
Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya is the only GVM film that I have seen multiple times. And I continue to do that even today after so many years. And the reason for that is not entirely GVM.
It was essentially the Simbu-Trisha chemistry. They looked so good together and a believable couple.
Secondly, the music. It was AR Rahman’s probably top-3 albums.
Third – the other characters in that film did a fantastic job to prop it up – VTV Ganesh, Jesse’s father, the short role played by KS Ravikumar and even Samantha.
GVM did write that film well despite the use of voice overs. The voice overs were also not bad in that film especially for someone like Trisha who is not known to emote. It helped bring out what she was thinking with respect to her relationship with Karthik.
If GVM wants to recreate that magic in his other films, he needs to find a similar lead pair. NEPV did not click because of Jeeva. Jeeva was wooden for the most part.
From the comments above, it is clear that Dhanush-Megha Akash did not live up to this expectation.
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Honest Raj
December 2, 2019
Speaking of love at first sight, VV takes the cake (not just in the GVM universe but perhaps in the history of Kollywood). Look at the conversation between Kamal and Kamalinee Mukherjee when he proposes to her.
She: Naama paathu two hours kooda aagala.
He: Two minutes laye solliruppen. I love you.
She: Yaravadhu kettra poranga.
He: Vera yaravadhu kekkradhukku munnadi naane kettutten.
Meanwhile, a lady comes (literally) between both of them and we get a borderline homophobic joke: “Paaru, kurukka vera yaaro vandhuttaanga”.
I was 16 when I saw the film and the whole scene, sans HJ’s score, played out almost like a Vivek comedy.
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MANK
December 2, 2019
The only GVM film that does not hold up for me is Minnale. I think Kakka Kakka and others still work well on a cinematic level
GVM’s screenplays are always problematic.They just keep going all over the place. . Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya is Gautam’s most focused screenplay. And i think Kakka Kakka also was focused; the love story was well integrated into the cop story. Other times it’s his film-making that makes his films what they are, Also the music and the actors to an extend . I am a big fan of his making and as Brangan mentioned in his review, there a a few good instances in this film as well. But there has been a drop in the quality of his filmmaking and his screenplays have only gotten worse. I am surprised that Brangan feels that this is a very classy screenplay, maybe to an extend in the first half with the romantic story, but once the crime drama kicks in, it’s a real mess.
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Amit Joki
December 2, 2019
No one does romances like GVM and it is fair to say that all the GVM romances are 90% GVM and 10% of whatever the actors can bring to the table.
GVM made Manjima Mohan who was an unknown and is still unknown relatively look good on the screen and look like she could act.
So, VTV is also GVM. Remove the nuances of the GVM script and his direction and give the same script with the barebone plots to any other director (excluding Mani Ratnam) and you will suddenly realise that they won’t be having much of a chemistry after all.
I find it insulting to GVM to think his films work only due to his actors’ effort. NO sir. He’s an indulgent director and whatever you see on screen is 100% his work and the credit should go to him. The actors can only enhance what’s already present and with GVM he even scripts the song, so you know how much of fine details he woves in his screenplay.
NEP failed not because Jeeva was woody. It failed because the plot points were repetitive (fight-patch, fight-patch and so on…) and the audience weren’t too receptive to that many songs within the films and that’s the reason the film might not have worked for some. It worked perfectly for me.
Also, judging by the comments and the reviews, it is pretty much clear that Lekha could have been played by someone with gumption but Dhanush has given it his all and more. It is due to his utmost earnestness that makes lines believable which otherwise would have been even more ridiculed than it being done now.
The films supposed “failure” is due to the fact that they have predisposed GVM’s voiceovers as needless baggage and haven’t come to terms when the voiceovers are used to move the plot whilst also providing us a insight into Raghu, something that doesn’t happen in most of the films even by great directors. Not in this form anyway.
Do wait and watch the film to know why it supposedly “failed” or if it even failed for you. For me, the film is a comfort food. I can watch it anytime, I don’t consider it a failure. But if people perceive it to be one, then I can bet that it won’t be because of Dhanush-Megha Akash because for them, they’ll have been the only saving grace and GVM and voiceovers, the villain.
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KS
December 3, 2019
@BR: you say the relationship “slowly transforms” from friendship to love. But I felt it was still relatively fast, not instant, but fast. Also, I would’ve liked to see what makes the girl overcome her inhibitions in making the first (or second) move.
GVM fan.
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Voldemort
December 7, 2019
It’s such a good thing that GVM’s back and that alone was enough for me to want to watch this film and, boy did I love it!
Hopefully Dhruva Natchatram comes very soon!
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e221
December 8, 2019
BR When can we get a review of “The Irishman” Pls..Those who complain about Voice overs are perfectly fine when a director like Martin Scorsese use in either Good fellas or The Irishman For a decent running time..Whoa.
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The Lowly Laureate
December 15, 2019
Hi BR& all , it’s been a while since I saw the movie. I have been trying to remember what it was, then I wrote a post.
So here it is: https://lowlylaureate.com/2019/12/07/enai-noki-paayum-thota/
Thanks
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kart
January 7, 2020
I disagree about your comment on Mekha Akash casting…. For me her tone and voice had a longing and she has done a good job.She was terrific when she had to explain her situation each time to Danush. In fact for me it is ‘Danush’, although he has done a neat work, didn’t fit in this role and sasikumar as his brother was another very bad choice… but having said this I cannot think of any other actors replacing them and can understand GVM’s choice of actors…. I liked the voice-over and the beast mode …ENPT – GVM’s best although with minor issues in the later half…
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tonks
January 7, 2020
Just watched this on Amazon and I agree that even the romance did not live up to my expectations.
I totally disagree with this :
all the delicate shades in their relationship that slowly transforms from friendship to full-on love
What friendship, when they do not show even one proper conversation between them. It was totally love at first sight.
I totally agree with Ak’s comments under this post :
How does Lekha fall for Raghu in the first place? Who are they when they re not awkward making out, what makes them click? Raghu and lekha barely have a conversation the whole movie. Why cant our filmmakers come up with a meet-cute without love at first site? Will any woman in this time and age just invite any strange man to her birthday party and start dirty dancing with him? Come on! Can we please see some believable women on screen?!!
Very disappointed with this romance, it seemed very fake.
Also I’ve only seen the first half, I got frustrated when she meekly decides to follow that producer guy back from his parents’ house. I do not buy that the parents allowed the girl to just stay there with them for a month. Why did Dhanush not marry her straight away, and prevent her being forced/ bullied by that producer guy.
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umamaheswarans
February 12, 2020
Simply blown away by the energy and craft in film making. Bit sad that GVM ran into financial troubles. Hopefully he comes out of it stronger and gets a chance to concentrate only on his art.
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