The interwoven lives of twin brothers would be determined by the flip of a coin. As Kamal Haasan famously observed in portraying twin brothers Nandhu and Vijay in his influential Aalavandhan (2001), based on Haasan’s novel Dhayam, “one is an animal and the other is a trained animal.” Let’s start with the obvious: Naane Varuvean and Aalavandhan are not the same films. But it’s difficult not to see the parallels between the two: the twin brother’s cliche and interwoven fates, the neglected elder brother being the villain and having daddy issues, among other things.
Comparisons between the two films are not appropriate, even if they are cut from the same fabric. Aalavandhan, as a psychological thriller, was groundbreaking for its day in how it comprehended the psychological pain of Nandhu’s obsessive mental illness. Haasan’s screenplay was deeper, and I was intrigued to see where Nandhu would go given his situation. The individual had gone somewhere he couldn’t return. Aalavandhan was the name.
The story featured a brilliant cause and effect: Nandhu was mentally sick as a result of his father and stepmother’s mistreatment. He murders them because of visions of his deceased mother. He wants to save his brother Vijay from his bride since she resembles their stepmother. He wants to harm Vijay’s unborn child because he believes the latter’s wife, like his stepmother, is lying.
However, in Naane Varuvean, there is a large gap in the screenplay (authored by Dhanush) that fails to answer the issue of why. What, rather, is the character’s motivation? We are left to form our own conclusions since there are no answers. One may argue that Nandhu was made a circumstantial villain in Aalavandhan. However, in Selvaraghavan’s film, the older brother Kathir (Dhanush, who plays the twin, and receives a king’s welcome from fans) is portrayed as a pure force of evil. Perhaps you might think of Naane Varuvean as the second installment of Selvaraghavan’s Good against Evil trilogy, which began with the most fascinating Nenjam Marapathillai.
The disadvantage of having two Dhanush in a film about good and evil is that we care little about the nice character and instead wait for the true “hero” to appear. And he only does so at the interval point.
Naane Varuvean remains a fascinatingly flawed addition to Selvaraghavan’s extensive catalog of films. However, there is a sense of the tale being unfinished here, as it could have used stronger writing and more fleshed-out passages from Dhanush.
The first half went practically without a hitch. The film, which is treated as folklore, delves directly into the narrative of the twin brothers, Kathir and Prabhu. The basic essence of their characters is established in the first scene when Kathir is chastised for lighting someone’s petticoat on fire. As punishment, his father beats him to a pulp and ties him to a tree.
Kathir flees. There is a wonderful moment that stands alone as a stand-alone scene. When Kathir flees into the forest, he is pursued by what appears to be an ancient spirit (played by Selvaraghavan). The boy’s eyes save him from death. He lets Kathir go and tells him to flee for his life. Kathir, however, murders him. As a result, the hunter becomes the prey.
Of course, there is no logical explanation for Kathir’s dual existence as a human during the day and a werewolf at night. But this scene reminded me of the magnificent Australian thriller You Won’t Be Alone (which I saw at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year), in which a witch kidnaps a little girl and transforms her into a shapeshifter who lives the lives of both a human and a witch.
Take note of the title, which is a reference to a song from Yaar Nee? (1966). That film was about reincarnation, yet Kathir reappears in Prabhu’s life today. Prabhu now lives a happy life with his wife Bhuvana (Indhuja) and daughter Sathya. He is a loving parent. So much so that when Bhuvana expresses a desire for a second kid, he declares, “I don’t want to share my love for Sathya.” We know he’s terrified of his bigger brother, but why is he saying this? What does this indicate about him and Kathir being twins? Was it because of their mutual love that he had difficulty with Kathir? Is it because he’s bad?
The film lacks clarity in establishing its characters’ boundaries, and its two-hour running time doesn’t help either. At least a portion of the screenplay appears to be missing.
There is a sense of haste to get right into the conflict: two montage songs are shown to show Kathir and Prabhu’s loving families. We know nothing about Kathir’s relationship with his family or Prabhu’s relationship with his, save that they are both kind and compassionate.
And these are necessary for us to experience the shivers and thrills. When Dhanush is introduced as Kathir with Yuvan Shankar Raja’s exhilarating ‘Veera Soora,’ you anticipate the film to be riveting from then on. Let’s face it: we enjoy seeing heroes battle each other on TV.
However, you get the impression that the filmmakers were just interested in completing the film and moving on. The problem is also with Dhanush’s writing… It’s as if he was so taken with how realistically he could play Kathir and sleepwalk Prabhu that he didn’t care about writing an emotionally compelling story with these characters. That is why, when Prabhu finally has a second kid, you are taken aback. It has no effect on you.
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Is there another star in today’s generation who can entirely commit to a character like Dhanush? He has no qualms about smoking and portraying an alcoholic on TV. He gives you what you want, just as in Thiruchitrambalam.
Dhanush would still portray a morally defective role if you asked him to. In the second part, there is an unsettling scenario involving Kathir. Let us suppose he chains a few characters. There is also violence. This is hardly something a mainstream hero, let alone a celebrity, would consent to. In the aforementioned scene, we witness him erupt into an impromptu dance, which serves as a pleasant reminder of the conclusion of Kadhal Kondein. I’m curious whether there is another star who could pull off a Dhanush.
