Naane Varuvean review: Dhanush holds this predictable horror

Cast: Dhanush, Selvaraghavan, Indhuja Ravichandran, Elli AvrRam, Prabhu, and Yogi Babu

Director: Selvaraghavan

Writer: Dhanush

Musician: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Editor: Bhuvan Srinivasan

Cinematographer: Om Prakash

Synopsis: A father finds out that his teenage daughter is possessed, and the only way he can save her is by doing the ghost's bidding, which will mean an encounter with his long-separated twin - who happens to be a psycho killer.

For director Selvaraghavan, horror is not a new genre that he hasn't worked upon, as he has recently given us 'Nenjam Marappathillai' which was also a flawed film. But the way he uses the genre's form and experiments with it is what matters and Naane Varuvean is essentially that. The film starts off in a promising manner by showing us brothers — Kathir and Prabhu — where one is evil-minded or being pushed into the state while the other is calm and scared.

Dhanush's writing is clever as he uses the genre as a layout and beautifully embeds themes onto it. The film apart from the horror aspects explore the nuances of psychology and on how people change with the situation or the setting. "I need a therapist,” says Prabhu's daughter, Satya (Hiya Davey), who has been experiencing paranormal activities in her home. In fact, it uses Prabhu's daughter to show us what is happening in real-life youth or gen-z reference to 'Bluewhale' in one scene without saying much.

Dhanush is in a terrific form in this film, when he plays both Kathir and Prabhu so effortlessly and shows us two different human beings who lived in the same family, suffered through the same trauma, but took different paths in life.

When Bhuvana (Indhuja) asks Prabhu about the second child, the childhood trauma hits back in the mind, which also makes us connect with him the most, but, Kathir is the real deal in this film. A cold-blooded killer, but also caring.

He a well-written antagonist and the build-up for him till the first half is all well-done, but everything soon falls flat. The second half lags for the most of time with predictability. Kathir also becomes a different person, in the end, he becomes more caring for his son while he is helping the other. What worked in the first half was the intrigue of his character, but that oozes out, yet, what stays is the inventiveness of camerawork from Om Prakash, who goes all out in this film. From Dutch angles to handheld shots to the extreme close up everything to add up to the mood.

Even Selvaraghavan's cameo adds more to the story than what Yogi Babu did, who is travelling with Prabhu in this entire journey without asking questions or even reacting to the paranormal happenings. His comic timing is odd and doesn't work at all. Yuvan Shankar Raja's score matches the tone and he composed according to the genre. His Rendu Raaja song is well-choreographed, but adds as a speed breaker for the screenplay.

Bhuvan Srinivasan's editing and Udhayakumar's sound design are best described as being crisp, especially the arrow sequence really had a good sound design that overruled the jarring logical loopholes. The film also has clear inspirations from various Hollywood flicks such as Willam Friedkin's 'The Exorcist', James Wan's 'The Conjuring 2' and Duffer brothers 'The Stranger Things' series, but doesn't shape up to it.

In some scenes, the child actors do their best and in few, they really look forced, especially actress Hiya Dave, who played the role of Prabhu's daughter Satya did well.

Naane Varuvean also present's Selvaraghavan's different style of direction as he shoots this film in a minimalistic way compared with the saturated tone that he followed in 'Nejam Marappathillai'. All the frames have this moody feel to them. Maybe, the director really wished to experiment more as he leaves his climax usually in a cliffhanger. But unfortunately for such an under-developed climax, the cliffhanger is rather questionable.

On the whole, Naane Varuvean has interesting ideas and the set-up for an intriguing horror was so well done in the first half, but soon falls short of what it promised and loses its charm due to its underwhelming second half.