Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam (Tamil)
Nilavukku En Mel Ennadi Kobam (NEEK) is perhaps the usual love story that it proclaims to be in its title card. At the centre of the Dhanush directorial is a young heterosexual couple who navigate love and the pain that often comes with it. But the film is keen to blow off all the usual stereotypes that accompany such “usual” love stories: the sidekick friend doesn’t just exist to show off the hero, but also miraculously gets a tiny but tender love story, there are no obvious villains in a film where almost every character combs through complicated relationships, and toxicity is fairly out of place.
NEEK is fun, thoughtful, and a bit enjoyably silly in its intention. But when it comes to execution– save for a few scenes in the second half that beautifully come together– it is oddly stilted.
Dhanush writes most of his characters with inimitable quirk. We have Preethi (Priya Prakash Varrier) who looks at marriage as a loveless, transactional relationship out of which she only expects comfort, not magic. And then there’s Nila (Anikha Surendran), a rich kid with a pony in her backyard, who loves to devour nothing but a good karuvaadu kozhambu (dry fish curry) at a swanky party. We also have an unexpectedly nice guy in the mix: the enviably sweet Aravindh (Siddhartha Shankar), who checks up on his fiancée’s ex-boyfriend at his own wedding.
A lot of these ideas are fresh on paper, but mostly come off as stilted when performed. While characters like Preethi are refreshing to see on screen, the performance, aided with non-conversational English lines, leaves them feeling one-note and insincere.
This holds especially true in the film’s first half, which largely focuses on Prabhu (Pavish) and Nila’s love story. The romance between a chef and a food lover shouldn’t have to be this flat. But this is not to say that the writing is basic—it is often the opposite. Prabhu’s innocence should’ve been apparent in the way he confesses his love for Nila to his own parents much before telling her. Nila’s love for her doting single dad (Sarathkumar) needed to be much more glowing than they tell us it is. All of these emotions are conveyed through its writing, but not so much through its staging or acting.
It is in the second half that NEEK really finds a lot of its footing. The wedding of an ex-girlfriend and some free-flowing secrets keep Prabhu and his motley group of friends entertained and turn them into introspective beings. Rajesh (Mathew Thomas) gets some of the best one-liners in the film, but they aren’t as frivolous as the first act paints it out to be. Mathew and Pavish bring out the best in each other – mildly reminiscent of Amal Davis and Sachin’s delightful bromance from Premalu (2024) – in scenes of shared joy and grief. Their friendship makes scenes of heartbreak immediately more moving—something that even the scenes detailing romance weren’t able to do.
GV Prakash Kumar’s music is catchy, but it is in the smaller, more intimate moments that his music acts as a balm, immediately transporting us to the world of OG Dhanush romances.
Impressive new characters are thrown into the mix like Ramya Rangathan’s Anjali, a demure wedding planner who is smitten with the saddest boy at the wedding. While the film largely tries to capture new-age romance, it is still quite traditional and hearty in its belief in “one true love.” We have a man who attends his ex-girlfriend’s wedding to potentially win her back and another who has been a soup boy for over seven years.
For all talks of modernity, the soul is still old in this one (save for its kooky climax), and we’re not complaining. We only wish the vibe on paper translated more seamlessly on screen.
If there’s anything Sruthi loves more than watching films, it’s writing about it. Sruthi Ganapathy Raman’s words can also be read in Film Companion, Scroll.in, and The Times of India.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.