Nilavuku Enmel Ennadi Kobam

NEEK was....mid. Nothing new, except the new faces. The film looks great, but if you closed your eyes, it sounds (dialogues and music) like a regular lighthearted Dhanush movie. If that's your thing, you'll likely not mind, or even enjoy, this film.

The new cast was OK, nothing great but not bad. I wish them all the best. The highlight of the film, for me, was Mathew Thomas. I have no idea who RSquared is but she was clearly liked very much in the limited time she had on screen, apparently she's popular outside of films too. But that's about it.

The film opens with a stunning looking song with sambandham eh illadha lyrics and music, but OK. The film does get better from there but you can't unhear the formulaic background music you've heard in most of his previous films. Casting Saranya as the leads mom was very reminiscent of VIP. They made her deliver random English dialogues, I believe for some comedic effect, but it didn't work for me. Maybe reminding you of all Dhanush and his previous films was nostalgia baiting or to give Pavish Narayan a young Dhanush image, but for me, if felt like I was watching an older film with new cast, couldn't help it. I tried.

Overall - Dunno if calling NEEK 'a usual love story' was damage control to begin with, but Dragon won the Valentine's Day release window (based on the original schedule)