Yavarum Nalam: In My Point of View

The mystery-thriller genre has been explored by many directors in many ways. The Tamil cinema industry or rather the Indian cinema has left no stones unturned in this genre. If these statements echo your opinion, then you should definitely watch Yavarum Nalam.

The Plot
Manohar(Madhavan) and his family, which comprises of his wife(Neetu Chandra), mother (Saranya Ponvannan), sister, brother(Sanjaih Bokaria),sister-in-law (Ameetha), nephew and niece move into a new apartment, which is on the thirteenth floor. At this juncture, Manohar senses a string of strange things happening around him(and his family) since they moved to the apartment. The milk gets over-burned everyday, the puja room could never be up, the lift never works for Manohar alone, and again the camera in the mobile phone could never take a perfect picture of him alone. Being oblivious of all these happenings, the women folk at home, who are very enthusiastic and crazy about the mega serials, venture into watching a new mega serial called "Yavarum Nalam".

An already puzzled Manohar happens to watch this serial on a lonely afternoon. To his utter shock, the serial reflects his life and depicts a close-knit family like the one he has. The incidents that unfold in the serial starts to get reflected in his life and home. Initially, the incidents in the serial are happy and the same gets replicated in his life also. When the incidents in the serial are not good, things in Manohar's life also turns towards the worst. Sooner or later, Manohar starts turning to the serial to foresee incidents that could happen in his life. Also, being bewildered by these coincidences, Manohar tries to find the person behind the making of this serial. At this point, more surprises were in store for him. He finds out that Yavarum Nalam is not a mega serial....but, a game show hosted by popular actor Khushboo.Then, how the mega serial is being telecast in his television alone by 13:00 hours everyday and who are the cast? Manohar in league with his friend, who is a police officer discovers the unholy secret behind this mystery. In this process, how Manohar saves his family from an unprecedented danger forms the rest of the story.

The Cast
The cast includes Madhavan, Neetu Chandra, Saranya Ponvannan and others. All the actors have lived upto their roles. They bring the upper middle class family alive. In particular, Madhavan has played his part well.This movie marks the comeback of Madhavan after a while. After a couple of failures in Tamil, he has once again clinched success with this movie.He has proved himself through his exceptional emoting skills.Neetu Chandra, looks apt for this role.Others are pillar of support for moving the story.

The Crew
The director Vikram K.Kumar should be appreciated for his treatment of this story. He should particularly be appreciated for not using the cliches of the horror/mystery thriller genre. You cannot see the elements that you have seen in the other horror movies, such as tapping of the doors and windows in the air, growling of the dog, a young woman clad in white saree walking amidst the snow etc He should also be appreciated for using the mundane and inanimate things such as television, mobile etc as elements of horror.

But he could have avoided few flaws that are obvious even to the eye of a common man. For instance, in a particular scene, Madhavan pulls out "The Hindu"newspaper from the hands of a woman in the hospital and when he flips to the television program guide section, it is printed in Tamil. Similarly, how Madhavan alone could sense the similarity of the serial, "Yavarum Nalam" with that of their lives, that too, by watching only one episode of the soap? How come the women, who watch the serial from the day one with at most interest and addiction are completely oblivious about it? Why Saranya, who always discusses about soaps with her friends, doesn't discuss about the serial "Yavarum Nalam" alone? The director has failed to address these pivotal issues in this movie.Another hitch that I felt is that why the doctor who believes in the "after-life" of living beings doesn't take any precaution to safeguard himself from the "spirits".Why he didn't expect that he is vulnerable to them?

Given the fact that the director has tried his hands for the first time in the mystery thriller genre and this is just his second film and he has dished out something refreshingly new, we can forget the mistakes in this film and expect more from his future projects.

Now coming to the cinematography, P.C Sriram has proved his mettle as a seasoned cinematographer. He has simply created a "magic" with his camera throughout the film. Whats more? His camera is the real hero of the film.In particular, the lighting sets the right mood of the movie. The use of different lighting for different parts of the movie is brilliant.The duet song featuring Madhavan and Neetu Chandra has a bright sunshine kind of lighting, one of its kind that I have ever seen in a horror movie.The flash back part is shot in black and white taking us for a ride down the late 70's. Even the most mundane elements in the movie such as the lift, the photo frame etc produces a horror effect. I feel the cinematography calls for awards similar to that of Oscars. It is simply superb and amazing. And music? It is very ordinary. In particular, the background music, which is like the backbone of horror movies, is not effective.The "Yavarum Nalam" title song alone is good.The editing by Sreekar Prasad is commendable.

The summary
"Yavarum Nalam" is a welcome and refreshing addition to the horror movies in the Tamil cinema.