Nerkonda Paarvai Review: Ajith leads a powerful film
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If you are a Tamil film lover, you would be familiar with the word ‘mass’ – a term that speaks about the machoism, swashbuckling style and the ability to punch villains and deliver punch lines. In this week’s most awaited release, Nerkonda Paarvai, Ajith regains his throne as the ultimate mass hero. His psychiatrist warns the villain to move away from Bharath Subramanian’s (Ajith) sight. Soon, we see the sprinkler gushing out water, indicating that the ‘hero’ has risen to power! This is followed, a couple of actions scenes and then he receives the respect of a superhero!
Despite, the film portraying this side of Ajith, the plot isn’t entirely lifted or weighed down by this. The film delivers what it intends to – that anything without a woman’s consent means a big NO! It doesn’t matter if she’s had a drink, wearing a short dress or even if she’s flirted – Forcing a woman is wrong. Director H. Vinoth has adapted the Hindi film Pink to convey this hard-hitting message.
The film tells the story of three women – Meera (Shraddha), Famila (Abhirami) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) who are accused of attempting to murder Arjun (Aadhik) and blackmailing him and his friends for money as they’ve failed to pay money for sexual favours to the women. Until one day, their neighbour Bhaskar (Ajith) notices the trauma the women go through and decides to help them. The only catch? He’s a former well-known lawyer diagnosed with bipolar disorder who struggles to do remain stable.
Fighting a case against entitled men who come from rich and influential political backgrounds is a tough ordeal for a woman to endure. The society may charge the woman of being ‘too modern and independent’ ‘too available’! Nerkonda Paarvai is not a easy or light film. There are several scenes in the film which will make you feel uncomfortable, and serve as a disclaimer that what happened to girls in film, could happen to any woman.
What seemed a bit problematic in the film was it’s inconsistency. While Ajith is first portrayed as someone who is trying hard to battle with bipolar, there is no trace of his struggle in the second half of the film. He is seen stronger and clear suddenly. Also, Aadhik and his friends doesn’t appear in every court session, they aren’t questioned equally as the women.
Apart from the plot, the performance of the actors in the film is what makes it good. Arjun Chidambaram is perfect as the brat, while Shraddha, too displays a strong fight. Andrea is terrific and performs her role with vulnerability. Abhirami works on a constantly worried expression but delivers in parts. Rangaraj Pandey is amazing as the devils advocate. He’s extremely convincing when he poses some tough questions. D. Ramachandran is fantastic as the judge. The star of the film is undoubtedly Ajith Kumar who uses his heavy baritone to deliver a strong verdict in the court room. He delivers great performances as the smart lawyer. I quite liked his onscreen scenes with the with charming Vidya Balan, who is so good as his wife!
It is an important film, that quashes misogyny. It’s also interesting to watch a superstar like Ajith speak to the audience and his fans about consent.