Neerparavai review

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3.5 / 5

Neerparavai is a movie that shows the lives of fishermen living in coastal Tamil Nadu. The portrayal of their lives is very authentic. All the rules and regulations that they follow, their sense of community, the struggles that an outsider has to undergo to be accepted among the fisher-folk etc. have been shown like never before.  The village shown in the movie is replete with Christians and a few Muslims. Hence, there is a lot of weight given to showing the customs and practices at the Church, the respect given to the Father and Sisters and the way they go about preaching, healing and collecting funds from people.

Vishnu scores as the wayward drunkard who finally mends his ways after falling in love. The transformation is not overnight and the movie shows the stages he undergoes in his rehab process. The love and support that he gets from his parents is highly moving. His love track with Sunaina is also not cinematic and has shades of realism. There are some needless songs in the second half though. Black Pandi and Thambi Ramiah are there to provide plenty of funny as well as poignant moments. Both these actors are going places of late.

The movie travels in flashback mode and begins on a dreary note. But after that, only the end again becomes sentimental and emotional. The ending dialog is a real clincher and earns the audience's applause.

• Amazing camera work by Balasubramaniem. Though the actors must have slogged in sultry and humid conditions, it is a treat to see the coast on screen. 
• The number 'Para Para' is a sheer delight to listen to. It comes twice in the movie in different situations. Hats off to N.R.Raghunanthan for this number. The other songs aren't great and one of the BGM scores has been blatantly ripped off from 'A Beautiful Mind''s title score. 
• Saranya Ponvannan continues to shine in mother roles and her supportive ways towards her son particularly while giving him money to drink, make the audience hoot for her. Sunaina and Nandita Das have been perfectly cast in the same role during different timelines. Both shine in the emotional scenes though Sunaina is too de-glam. Arul Dass as Vishnu's father is terrific and tugs at your heart strings. Samuthirakani and Vadivukarasi show their talent in nice character roles. Nandagi shines in a small role while Azhagam Perumal is likable too, for a change.
• The movie has some pace issues at the start of the second half and some needless songs also play spoilsport. 

FINAL WORD: Poignant and touching movie about the fisher-folk of our state. Applause to the entire team for the authenticity and detailing. WORTH A WATCH.