A political satire by Selvaraghavan. It sounds nice to hear. The man who captured human emotions raw and real on screen is out with a mass film this time. In the process, Selvaraghavan tries to balance both and eventually ends up neither here nor there. But thanks to Suriya’s superb show and mighty screen presence, it manages to be a watchable fare.
More of the recent political film LKG meeting Selva’s cult classic Pudhupettai, NGK in a nutshell is about a young man, who wants to do good for people. He is compelled to enter politics to serve the purpose and the hurdles that he face to achieve his goal is what it is.
The director sprinkles mother-son and husband-wife sentiments at a few places. It eventually harps on the need for educated youngsters to enter politics.
Set in Srivilliputhur, the movie revolves around Nandha Gopalan Kumaran aka NGK (Suriya), a M Tech graduate, who takes up organic farming in his village. He along with his friends involve in social service acts winning the admirations of locals. His wife Mythili (Sai Pallavi) stands by him in all his endeavours. Things take a turn when NGK is made to realise that his ambitions to serve the society and live for the cause of motherland can be realised only if he enters politics. He befriends local MLA (Illavarasu). He soon rises in ranks thanks to Amaithipadai Amavasaique acts. He happens to even meet the leader of the party (Ponvannan). Here comes NGK’s acquaintance with Vanathi (Rakul). She is a professional PR hired by the party to help them face elections. She holds enormopus clout within the party. She involves NGK in her plans to help party get a good image among public as election nears. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu (Devaraj) plans to bump off NGK fearing his rising popularity. A series of events happens as NGK uses things to his advantage. Eventually he gets what he wants but with many sacrifices.
Suriya shoulders all the burden. He is bubbly and energetic. His character seems to be an extension of the one he had played in Taana Serndha Kootam. Anger, agony, excitement, joy, revenge and romance. Sai Pallavi as Suriya’s wife gets adequate opportunities. Sadly for those expecting a ‘Rowdy Baby…,’ she doesn’t shake her leg. Rakul Preet is more sedate. And the rest including Ponvannan, Devaraj or Illavarasu speak from their belly.
A major highlight of the movie is Yuvan Shankar Raja’s background score. It adds value to the proceedings at many places.
Sadly, the movie struggles especially towards the second half as Selvarahgavan cannot find a balance between mass and raw emotions. A lot has been said about social media and its influence in electoral politics, which we had seen umpteen times recently on big screen. It eventually ends up as neither Selvaraghavan nor Suriya film. A sense of deja vu prevails as the story is beaten-to-bush in Tamil cinema in the recent past.