We see a jail cell and a young boy busy writing in a form, why he is there you may ask, he is the son of the station’s lady police inspector. He comes out and starts a conversation with an accused (Naan Kadavul Rajendran) who is now behind the bars. The accused narrates a story to the boy to convince him to grow up as a rowdy instead of the police. At this time I was expecting to see an uninspiring remake of Kamal’s Kaakki Sattai, instead, the director treats us to a comedy desert that tasted more like Maan Karate, bless his soul for that. This is Naanum Rowdydhaan (2015) starring Vijay Sethupathi (as Pandi) and Nayantara (as Kadambari) in lead roles and directed by Vignesh Shivan.

Pandi is an unemployed who wants to be seen as a Rowdy, Kadambari calls him correctly to be a fraud.  Kadambari is a young girl who approaches Pandi’s mother looking for her father (a fellow Police Officer) who has gone tracking a local don Killivalavan (played by R.Parthiban). Pandi is assisted in his “assignments” by RJ Balaji and later by Anandaraj. To see the Police wearing the French Redhat instead of the Kaaki caps commonly seen in Tamil films was nice, as the story mostly happens in beautiful Pondicherry. The way Nayanthara looks at the speaker’s lips and then talks, makes you realise that she is playing a deaf girl’s role, an unassuming performance from her. Matching this is Vijay Sethupathi’s acting, I clapped in the scene where Pandi poses to Kadambari trying to convince her he is a rowdy, uttering the title of the movie (நானும் ரௌடி தான்). Though it’s a full-length comedy movie there are scenes that were memorable like the close-up scene showing lips when Kadambari speaks to Pandi about her condition before he can kiss her, where Pandi explains to Kadambari the reason he hid the truth from her and the action (thankfully not by the hero) climax.

Rajendran a local don and friend of Pandi gives him a demo on how to do a murder, mistakenly he shoots the person in the door number 19 instead of 9, then casually walks away while Pandi is dumbstruck. R.Parthiban is the main villain who has played his role effortlessly. In the climax sequence when Kadambari approaches Killivalavan requesting him to get killed (உங்களை போடனும் சார், இது என் சின்ன வயசு ஆசை) by her, which he mistakes for romantic advance, you get to see Parthiban at his brilliance. Raadhika as Pandi’s mother has a limited role. Music by Anirudh Ravichander who has given an enjoyable song with Thangamey and a good title track. Overall, a fun movie to watch that will get you coming out of the theatre with a smile.

நானும் ரௌடி தான்

நானும் ரௌடி தான்

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