Netrikann – Movie Review

Lady Superstar Nayanthara has played a few unique characters in her career spanning 18+ years. In one of her earliest movies with Superstar Rajinikanth, her character was named “Durga” and she takes the same name in her most recent outing “Netrikann” in which she plays the role of a visually challenged person. In her earlier movie “Naanum Rowdydaan” pairing with Vijay Sethupathy, she appeared in a role who cannot hear anything. With this role, she has touched the emotions of millions of her fans with a fantastic portrayal, something very close to how a real person who cannot see the world would. Very few actors / actresses have played such a role so well, notable among them being Kamal Hassan in “Rajaparvai” and Rani Mukherjee alongside Amitabh Bachchan in the movie “Black”. Quite frankly, it is extremely difficult to “act” as though one cannot see.  Nayan has done justice to this role and has stepped up expectations on her, making the audience feel worthy of her title “Lady Superstar” which she is totally deserving off.

Based on a Korean Movie named “Blind”, Netrikann – meaning the Third Eye, is a movie about a CBI Officer who loses her eyesight and her brother in a freak accident, which is how the movie begins. Durga is seen driving a Scorpio SUV along with her brother, chained to the handrest of the car and both are not wearing seat belts. Whether the Director Milind Rau is trying to send a message with this or if it is shown purposely to end the scene in a catastrophe is anybody’s guess. The glass pieces strewn of the SUV pierce both her eyes and she loses sight thereafter. She doesn’t get a donor for her repaired eyes and is on a waiting list. Enter the antagonist Dr. Danish Dinah (Ajmal Ameer) who is a serial rapist and a psychopath by night and has some other profession during the day which is revealed over the course of the movie. 

On a rainy night, Ajmal tries to make Durga his next victim but fails due to an accident on the road. Durga escapes from him and informs the police about a suspected accident the previous night. The cops don’t take her too seriously initially, though she is able to gauge the culprit through her instincts. A delivery boy, Gowtham (Saran Shakthi) who confesses to have seen a car driving off in a similar manner to Manikandan, Sub-Inspector of Police (Manikandan) becomes Ajmal’s victim soon followed by Manikandan and are eventually killed. Thereafter, for almost an hour, it’s a cat and mouse chase between Durga and Ajmal. On the roads, aboard Metro Rail, at a shopping Mall and finally at her native house. Only these 45 minutes seem to be a drag all through the film and a crisper editing could’ve made the film much more watchable, especially given the fact that that it’s meant for an OTT release. While it was evident how the film would end, the crew have spent a lot of time explaining the inherent instincts of a visually challenged person and how their 7^th sense a la Third eye – Netrikann – will help them decipher things they don’t see as well.

Nayan has raised her own bar of acting with a very natural depiction of a person who is visually challenged. Her camaraderie with the pet dog is affable and all support characters have played their roles extremely well too. Music Director Girish has kept the BGM crisp at most places and the song “Idhuvum Kdandhu Pogum” released long ago, sung by Sid Sriram went on to become popular with the audience and the reprise version released on the day of the film’s release, sung by singer Bombay Jayashree is refreshing as well. Here’s a tip to the makers – try editing the film to under 100 mins and you will have a better output than now. Available on Disney+Hotstar Multiplex OTT App.