Neethaane En Ponvasantham

This was one among the most awaited movie of the season for the following reasons. The return of Gautham Vasudev Menon to rise above the success of his previous outing ' Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya', Buzz created by the soothing rhythms of Ilayaraaja and the on screen chemistry of Jiiva & Samantha in teasers. So were the expectations satisfied? Let's see it at the end.

The whole movie had a feel of a mash up between a sitcom and a musical which was very new to the audience. The never changing attitude of the pair (literally) plays the villain in this romantic story. In fact we shouldn't blame the director for this because within 15 minutes of the movie, there is a dialogue by Samantha (Nithya) which goes like the core character of a person is fixed by the time he/she celebrates second birthday. So by that logic, the protagonists never change their attitude or their way of approach in mending their lost love. Though logical, it was excruciating for us to sit through the climax and watch them brood over their failed connect in the same manner again and again.

Santhanam plays a mellowed down, friend of protagonist role and he largely succeeds by his timing and body language. In fact he pushes the movie through scenes which would have been dampener without him.

The classic dilemma of a boy from middle class is well brought out by Jiiva (Varun) and it could have been portrayed much better, for his character is not well written as Samantha's. The Director does go overboard with evoking nostalgia factor, and it makes us wonder if we are watching a Murali or Mohan movie of early 90s in select scenes. Though the songs were wonderful to hear, the placement of the songs in the second half tested our patience and it played spoilsport in understanding the intensity of the feel that was supposed to be created between the protagonists.

On the whole, NEP fares a bit low when compared to its nemesis VTV because of its shoddy character development and asynchronous writing. Climax aids its descent in audience satisfaction graph to a new low making them squirm in their seats. Instead of making the audience feel passionately about Varun and Nithya to reunite, the shoddy climax makes the audience go ballistic, for them to unite so that the movie would end.

Hence the conclusion is, though the expectations were all satisfied in various degrees; still the overall feel among moviegoers is bit damp for they were felt letdown by the director for his haphazard climax Yet the best part is the arrival of Samantha as an able actress to play a pivotal role in a movie and she deserves due appreciation for it.

NEP : Still qualifies to be an Ideal Date movie, but take care to guard her ears from the verbal abuses in theatre, towards the end of the movie.

Neethaane En Ponvasantham: Wow!!!! Another wonderful movie from Gautham Vasudev Menon.... Once again a sensible love story and A feel good movie... Sure many people wont like this movie(like VTV).... But while seeing this film, oru sema feel... chance-less....

santhanam comedy is superb and very very very funny...

jeeva n samantha acting is awesome.. the chemistry between them wrkd well..Maestro rocks in BGM...

The movie is really a slow-pace movie, only few people will like this film like VTV. The main thing is, the people who likes this film knws "what is in-depth love"... If u liked VTV, don't miss this one....

Neethane En Ponvasantham (NEP) (2012) Review:

Eventually the movie is in the reception of mixed reviews and with zero expectations I watched the movie and ended up in giving this review of mine.

The usual Gautam Vasudev Menon's style romantic movie with his usual ingredients like coffee shop love, Engineering college student love, artificial Mom and Dad with semi English -Tamil accent, lovers blaming each other for their failure relationship . Evidently this story is not so new it is the usual patch up – breakup lover's tale (strictly don't expect any twists more than this). Jiva and Samantha play the lead roles in the movie as Varun and Nithya. Where though Samantha's acting is not so matured but her blush is cute. Jiva tries to imitate the usual Gautam's lover boy series (Surya- VaranamAyiram, Simbhu-VTV, Madahvan-Minnale). Santhanam tries to create comedy crackers but eventually that was not so helpful to glue yourself to the seats. Music by Illaiyaraja makes up for the length of the movie and the album as on a whole didn't meet the hype and buzz created during the release when we compare it to Gautam's previous albums from VTV, Varanam Ayiram, Minalae (all of them are really cherish able all time music).The cinematography was too random in the movie and so many times the focus on the characters was not so clear (example the crucial apartment open top talk scene). These things make the movie a strict one time watch. Some say that this is characters relate type movie (where you could relate it to your life) and a strict romantic movie for lovers and newly married people. But trust me enter at your own risk. Bottom line: If VTV was the main love brand movie. Then Minnalae and Varanam Ayiram was a prequel and NEP is a sequel.

-Reviewed by SivakumarBalachandran (bsiva84@gmail.com)

Appreciations to Gautam.

This movie is indeed someone's love story.

Credits to Gautam who has nicely crafted & portrayed this film.It is excellent piece of narration which can be felt by few who had similar story in their life.

Background score & music adds much value to a script and none other than Ilayaraja can give this feeling. Thanks to Gautam who realized this well and bring contemporary musical retreat to Isaignani fans.

Samantha deserved this film and this has definitely revealed her talent.It would be one of her best movies and its obvious she would get more opportunities in upcoming flicks.

Jiva though this film not suit him (poignant character) he has done his assignment pretty well. Santhanam good for his renowned timing jokes who contributed well for this film.

Finally ,thanks Gautam ..for the 1st time ever in my life,u made me to scribble this review :)

Here we go, discussing about another stereotypical love movie from Gautham Menon. NDEPV does have all the controversies that generally comes along with most of Gautham's flicks (too much English, too slow etc).

The film begins with an enchanting song, that got me completely glued to the movie, especially for the fact that it was shot at SSN college. This song was shot in the hostel, entrance, auditorium and various Department buildings, I felt as if I was in my college.

Varun (Jiva) meets Nithya (Samantha)in his class, who apparently is her primary school, secondary school and secondary school crush. For some reason, they lose contact and Varun impresses her by singing an Ilayaraja classic on the stage. They fall in love and everything seems to be OK. One day, Varun 's parents are humiliated by the girl's parents whom his brother liked. This incident creates a spark in Varun 's mind n he decides to get serious with studies.

Again, Nithya could not understand why things r changing and argues with Varun . Poor Nithya does not know his family situation n the relationship eventually breaks up. The first half ends here and everything is fine up until now. The second half is all about how Varun comes back to win Nithya back again and what happens to their love..

The second half entirely rests on the shoulders of the great Maestro Ilayaraja. His music literally speaks to us and actually the lyrics tell you exactly what is going on in the film. You can sit blind folded and still understand the movie by just listening to the music and songs. Raja Raja Dhaan.... What is creating many detractors for the movie, is the fact that the climax was too dragging and could have been more crispier.. Agreeable, but still, it does not happen that way in real life. Watchable, at least for the Maestro... 7/10 it is...