Refuge 2023 - Movies (May 14th)
Chasing Raine 2024 - Movies (May 14th)
Sasquatch Sunset 2024 - Movies (May 14th)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes 2024 - Movies (May 13th)
Hit Man 2023 - Movies (May 13th)
Godzilla x Kong The New Empire 2024 - Movies (May 13th)
Deadbolt 2024 - Movies (May 12th)
Mesterjátszma 2023 - Movies (May 12th)
A Whitewater Romance 2024 - Movies (May 12th)
Phantom 2023 - Movies (May 12th)
Nikki Glaser Someday Youll Die 2024 - Movies (May 12th)
The Jack in the Box Rises 2024 - Movies (May 11th)
TMZ Presents The Downfall of Diddy 2024 - Movies (May 11th)
Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd 2023 - Movies (May 11th)
Imaginary 2024 - Movies (May 11th)
Youll Never Find Me 2023 - Movies (May 11th)
Squealer 2023 - Movies (May 11th)
Uncropped 2023 - Movies (May 10th)
Not Another Church Movie 2024 - Movies (May 10th)
Poolman 2023 - Movies (May 10th)
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare 2024 - Movies (May 10th)
The Brokenwood Mysteries - (May 14th)
Below Deck - (May 14th)
The Rachel Maddow Show - (May 14th)
The Last Word with Lawrence ODonnell - (May 14th)
All American - (May 14th)
The Green Veil - (May 14th)
Body Cam- On the Scene - (May 14th)
The Good Stuff with Mary Berg - (May 14th)
7 Little Johnstons - (May 14th)
Contraband- Seized at the Border - (May 14th)
Mean Girl Murders - (May 14th)
Next Baking Master- Paris - (May 14th)
Summer Baking Championship - (May 14th)
WWE Raw - (May 14th)
The Veil - (May 14th)
Restoration Road With Clint Harp - (May 14th)
Seeking Sister Wife - (May 14th)
Ugliest House in America - (May 14th)
The ReidOut - (May 14th)
All In with Chris Hayes - (May 14th)
There is a particular moment in Nimirnthu Nil when you stop taking the film seriously and exasperatedly just let it run its course. It happens when CBI officer Michael ( Sarath Kumar, in a guest appearance) comes flying out of nowhere in a car and crashes into a truck which is telecasting, illegally, an interview with the protagonist Aravind Sivaswamy ( Jayam Ravi), who is doing an expose on corrupt government officials. The truck is moving along on the Bangalore-Chennai highway, and only in the previous minute, we have been shown Michael, who is apparently in Chennai, telling a TV channel head that he has challenged his ego and he will not rest until he captures Aravind (notice the topical relevance of the name). And so, when Michael joins the chase in Supermanesque fashion, it is a little surreal and so absurd. Until then, the film does seem to be on the right track (as far as our "commercial" films go), playing out like an alternate version of the Rules Ramanujam track from Anniyan (directed by Shankar, who, by the way, owns this genre). As in that film, we get a "day in the life of" segment and witness how Aravind, with his penchant for following rules, ends up in a wretched state, questioning everything in the society. He refuses to bribe a cop which results in his two-wheeler being seized, which gets him to travel in a bus, which leads to him losing his wallet to a pickpocket, which lands him in trouble with the police, who are hand in glove with the crooks, and he ends up in jail. Still, Aravind refuses to give up his principles and chooses to be behind the bars and when he is taken before a magistrate, he even manages to point his fingers at the judge accusing him of employing a tout, which only worsens his situation. But, when he comes out of prison, with the help of the well-meaning lawyer Raja Senthoorapandian ( Subbu Panchu) and his friend Ramachandran ( Soori), Aravind shoots off mails to every head of the department in the government narrating his story, which leads to the suspension of the accused officers, who get-together and plot to remove him from their path. These scenes have a swiftness that keeps things from turning dull while camouflaging the flaws. The dialogue too is witty and sharp (Ellarum follow panna thaan rules, but follow pannravan ellam fools), and strikes a chord, igniting righteous anger in us. Sadly, that is short-lived as the film soon does a spectacular nose-dive. The accused officers (147 in number) form a team, elect a group to take decisions on the behalf and take on Aravind's case. As luck would have it, they also manage to find a man, the shifty Narasimha Reddy, who looks exactly like Aravind. And, the director sacrifices sense for scale and makes serious episodes seem like farce while turning the intended funny ones less amusing. Songs crop at the most inopportune moments, an action sequence happens just to showcase a Ravi vs Ravi fight, the preachifying tone of the film increases exponentially, and a final twist of sorts makes us question many things that we have seen before, from the need for the Reddy character to the inconsistencies in the characterization of Aravind and even the insistence of Samuthirakani in wanting to be the conscience keeper of the society.