Nenjukku Needhi Review: Article 15 is a slightly better version than Nenjukku Neeti Remake

M Karunanidhi, an important signature of the country’s politics, his son and present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin and his son and Tamil Nadu MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin, all three are/have been the flag bearers of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Party. Udhayanidhi Stalin is an actor with settled thoughts and hence when he takes responsibility of campaigning for his party, he ensures the victory of the party. It is said that when Udhayanidhi Stalin saw the film Article 15 starring Ayushmann Khurrana, he decided to remake it in Tamil language. However, Udhayanidhi himself was so incensed by the practice of manual scavenging that he installed a robotic machine to clean sewers in his constituency Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni, just a week before Article 15 hit the theatres. Nenjuku Neeti film is available on Sony Liv, and those who have seen Article 15 of 2019 would prefer to call it not a remake but a great Tamil version because Article 15 was set in Uttar Pradesh and the film is based on the real story of the Tamil Nadu countryside. Tamilisation of the environment has been done in a very delicate manner.

The name of M Karunanidhi’s autobiography is Nenjuku Niti and the film was also named Nenjuku Niti to honor a Dalit and downtrodden leader like him and it means justice for the heart. The arrival of a new police officer in the village should be a matter of great commotion, but it does not happen because the people of this place have accepted in their hearts that it is the job of the rich to exploit, and the job of the poor is to be exploited and humiliated. Many challenges already arise in welcoming the new posting of Vijayaraghavan (Udayanidhi). The police are the exploiters in the village. There is such a terrible division of caste that even the water given by the constable of the low caste is not acceptable and the food prepared by the woman of the low caste is thrown on the road and many children of the low caste eat that food with greedy eyes. They just keep watching. To clean the gutters in the village, people still go bare-bodied in the sewer and take a dip to remove the dirt from the drain. Huh. The upper caste constable does not listen to the lower caste inspector. In such a situation, three girls from Dalit families go missing and the bodies of two are found hanging from the tree. This is called honor killing. While trying to understand the politics of the village, Vijayaraghavan reaches the local leader and then he comes to know that Vijayaraghavan’s own bodyguard was also involved in the rape and murder of those girls. Well, the third girl is found and the crime gets exposed. A CBI officer becomes an obstacle in Vijayraghavan’s path, but due to the evidence, even his threats do not work.

The film has become better than Article 15 at some places. There is some innocence in the face of Udhayanidhi Stalin but his performance is like that of an excellent IPS officer. They don’t become film heroes, they don’t do any work outside the ambit of the law. His acting is also top class and looks better than Ayushmann. This role of Udhayanidhi will also prove to be good for his political career as he is exposing such a problem which has been defining the politics of Tamil Nadu. The constitution does not give any right to suppress the voice of Dalits, if Udayanidhi wishes, he will be able to incorporate this in his politics in a better way. The roles of the rest of the cast are small but the acting is powerful.

Dinesh Krishnan’s camera work slowly hurts the mind and brain of the audience. Some scenes look so gruesome that the weak hearted should keep their eyes closed and the strong hearted should be ashamed. Editing is by Ruben and director is Arunraja Kamaraj who had earlier made a successful film named Kanna but he is more known as a playback singer. The film should not remain a remake, so it had to be drenched with the color of Tamil Nadu’s countryside. Arunraja has done this work very beautifully. Article 15 where Nenjuku Neethi was getting a bit dramatic, despite being a Tamil film, did not become that dramatic. No dramatic camerawork, no awkward shots and haphazard action in which the hero fights like a superhero. If you have seen Article 15 then Nenjuku Policy might not be fun to watch but the film is wonderful. It should be seen how the soul of Hindi film has got the body of Tamil language.

First read breaking news in Hindi News18 Hindi| Read today’s latest news, live news updates, most reliable Hindi news website News18 Hindi.

Tags: boney kapoor, movie review