Natchathiram Nagargiradhu movie review: Pa Ranjith’s film about casteless, genderless love is his boldest yet

Natchathiram Nagargiradhu movie review: It is more impactful than Pa Ranjith’s earlier films despite featuring mostly newcomers and lesser-known actors. Everything looks so real on screen and rarely feels like a performance.

Pa Ranjith, in his decade-long career, has become one of the most important voices in exploring the socio-political movement in Tamil cinema. In a refreshing departure from his brand of cinema that usually talks about the horrors of caste-politics, Ranjith’s latest is about love and its politics. Natchathiram Nagargiradhu is unarguably his boldest work that’s both hard-hitting and uncomfortable. If there’s one mainstream filmmaker who has consistently superseded his own work with each feature, Ranjith deserves to be right on the top.

Natchathiram Nagargiradhu movie review: Kalidas Jayaram and Dushara Vijayan in a still from the Pa Ranjith film.

Natchathiram Nagargiradhu is centered on a young couple – Renee (Dushara) and Inniyan (Kalidas), who are part of a theatre group. The movie opens with a scene where Renee and Inniyan, who are madly in love, are arguing over Ilayaraja, and as the argument gets heated, Inniyan loses his cool and makes a remark about Renee’s caste. This results in the end of their relationship. Cut to next shot, we are introduced to Arjun (Kalaiarasan), an aspiring actor from a small town, who comes to join the theatre group to hone his skills. As we are introduced to the other actors, the leader of the theatre group decides to direct a play on modern-day love and he asks the members for their interpretation of love. As they discuss and understand love, it is unanimously decided that their play should emphasise on the need for casteless and genderless love.

Natchathiram Nagargiradhu is more of an independent feature, but one that’s more impactful than Ranjith’s earlier films. The fact that the film features mostly newcomers and lesser-known actors allows Ranjith to extract some very raw performances from his actors. Everything looks so real on screen and rarely feels like a performance.

Dushara Vijayan is the pick of the actors. You can see Ranjith in her, and her feisty performance is the perfect reminder of everything that’s brewing inside Ranjith’s head. It is a performance of a lifetime for Dushara, who appears so tough on the outside but is deeply broken on the inside. Kalidas Jayaram and Kalaiarasan get meaty parts and both get their share of limelight to score some brownie points. A scene involving Arjun’s family and their obsession with caste pride has to be one of the boldest and equally funniest scenes in Tamil cinema in recent history.

Film: Natchathiram Nagargiradhu

Director: Pa Ranjith

Cast: Kalidas Jayaram, Dushara Vijayan, Kalaiarasan