Mindspark : Nanban

Nanban(2012)

Director : Shankar

Screenplay : Shankar,Madhavan Karky

Story : Rajkumar Hirani,Abhijat Joshi,Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Music : Harris Jayaraj

Cast : Vijay,Jiiva,Srikanth,Sathyaraj,Satyhan,Ileana,S.J Suryah

Language : Tamil

Distributor : Gemini Film Circuits

Running time : 188 minutes

Rating : PG-13

 '3 Idiots' is a masterpiece by all means and i’m proud of the fact that the film remains the highest grossing film in all of India to date and not some mindless rubbish masala.The biggest stars of that film is its story and screenplay,which should be the case with any movie being made out there,if you ask me.Rajkumar Hirani,with all goodwill and inspired talent that he possess, has managed to create an interesting and entertaining screenplay which can be readily adapted into any language anywhere in the world but being the box-office phenomenon and epitome of filmmaking excellence ‘3 Idiots’ was and still is,most filmmakers would shy away from the idea of remaking it in their respective native setting,fearing whether their take would match up to the original but one man instead rose up to the challenge and lapped it up like the pro he is...Shankar!!!!!!!!!!!

              It puzzled me at first of why a hugely successful director like him who NEVER made a film where he didn’t have full creative control over the screenplay would want to direct a remake,that too with a frame-by-frame approach?Come on people,its always been other directors imitating and emulating Shankar,not vice-versa,and most fail as that man has developed for himself a practically inimitable style of filmmaking.So why the paradigm shift with Nanban?The answers came bombarding my mind like rays from a plasma gun hitting a granite plate.That man felt very very close to the film,from my POV,it appealed to him personally in a big way,that’s why!!!!!Now  what makes me say this?Consider  these points/trivia :-

1)     1 )  The core theme or message in ‘3 Idiots’ is about pursuing one’s PASSION, make a living and carving a career out of their heart’s desire.Strive for excellence,never settle for less and success will follow suit.Shankar is a famous living example of this adage as each of his films is made with a penchant for excellence(and he never settles for less,if he needs Rs165 crore to make a movie the way its SHOULD ME MADE,then Rs165 crore it is or else forget about it,Mr.Producer !)

2)    2) The setting of the film is at an engineering college(IEC).Shankar himself is an engineering undergraduate with a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering.I strongly believed that he identified very closely  with Madhavan’s character in the original-engineering student with his heart elsewhere,wildlife photography,to be precise.In Shankar’s case,its obviously filmmaking (which also brings another revered filmmaker to mind,also a Mechanical Engineering graduate,also made wildlife photography the passion of his protagonist in his film,its none other than the genius dude Selvaraghavan with his recent masterpiece ‘ Mayakkam Enna’.J)Another one on the “Mech.Eng list’ is Gautam Vasudev Menon,and ehem..there’s also another ‘in the making’..hehe..err..nevermind,we leave that aside now !:p

3)      3) Another core message of the film is OPTIMISM,with Aamir Khan’s Rancho/Phunsukh as the torchbearer of the adage ‘All Is Well’.All of Shankar’s film are highly optimistic,from Gentlemen to Endhiran,never has he made a film without the protagonist’s grand triumph in the finale.And since he also wrote the screenplay of almost all of his films,its clear that it reflects his own values and attitude towards his career and life in general(hence ALL the box-office collections of his movies happens to WELL,very WELL in fact !)

4) 4) Shankar’s films has common thread-an everyman(or a group of everyman,like ‘Boys’ and this),sick of the injustice,incited on a personal level, rising up the challenge to seek justice and then triumphantly revolutionises the society ).Despite the absence of the towering heroism or super-underdog set against a gross malaise or decay of the society,’3 Idiots’ effectively highlights the ill-driven education system in India(also most parts of Asia,especially) which is obsessed with results with its ‘by-the-book’ approach of education,completely ignoring the creative freedom of learning.Also,the film endearingly portrays the dilemma of most Asian societies with their highly-biased perception  on the idea of ‘ideal career or profession’,i call it the EML(Engineering,Medicine&Law) syndrome.For Shankar,the character of Ranchodas Chanchad perfectly fits the bill of his ‘grand protagonist’ ,albeit in a subtle but definitely powerful manner.

                 Having said all that,i must reiterate that whatever i wrote above is my personal perception of why Shankar chose to remake this film especially amongst hundreds of other Hindi blockbusters.Of course,its also obvious why,of all directors,with dudes like M.Raja around,who’s famous for making remakes didn’t take up the challenge even with the awareness that they already have a winning screenplay capable of winning millions of hearts.Why?Its simple.It takes a local giant to remake a fellow giant.What’s fortunate is that on top of the undisputable box-office track record that Shankar holds,he coincidentally happens to be the best man for the job(based on my trivia above!).One of the hallmarks of a great director is his/her critical judgement on casting and despite my initial doubts of Shankar’s choices of actors for ‘Nanban’,i walked out of the cinema with a smile and felt that all the choices he made was fully justified.Vijay actually suited the role perfectly,something which didn’t strike a chord with me the first time i came to know that its him who’s gonna fill Aamir’s Khan’s shoes.All i can i say is that Vijay lived up to his title of ‘Ilaya Thalapathy’,well,its a youth-oriented subject,speaking from a director/producer point of view ,in terms of marketability factor,there can be no wiser choice than to cast the local ‘Godfather Of Youths’(who really looks believably young considering his age) in the hugely positive and impactful main role which he justified the best he could.As for Srikanth,he also kept up,but didn’t quite match up to Madhavan’s take in the original whereas Jiiva fared much better,i would say as well,sometimes even better at times to Sharman Joshi in his role.Satyaraj,being the excellent character actor he is,did a fantastic job as the Tamil Virus.Special praise must go to Satyan as he really gave one of his best performances of his career as Silencer.As for Ileana,she did what she could matching Kareena’s performance expression by expression just like the film itself remade carefully frame by frame.Of course i enjoyed the cameo by S.J Suryah,it was a delight to see him with his over-the-top histrionics on screen again

                As for other aspects,a Shankar’s film is not complete without his trademark lavish song picturizations,which sets him a notch higher than his contemporaries in this department.And for the rest,cinematography,music,art direction and editing is typically what you can expect from a Shankar’s film,rarely disappointing.All in all,all is well...hahaha..to be honest,with all these elements in place,its very hard to go wrong ,and thankfully,it never does.In a nutshell,its definitely a welcoming breeze of fresh air for Tamil filmgoers who haven’t watched ‘3 Idiots’ and a nostalgic trip down memory lane for those who have,only its in their local flavour.Go watch it and get inspired people !

From the heart with love and passion,
Amreish Siman