Gautham Menon’s much-delayed film Enai Noki Paayum Thota (ENPT) is here, and it is the filmmaker’s blandest work to date. The film begins with Raghu (Dhanush) beating up men. You don’t know his past. But you see men attacking him in return. The opening sequence landed a solid punch, and my hopes were raised. But as the film progresses, I realise the narrative is underwhelming.Raghu, a final year college student, falls in love with Lekha (Megha Akash), an actor. The film swings between a romantic drama and an action thriller. That’s where the problem lies. ENPT can’t decide what it wants to be. Say, you want a romantic scene to continue, the film takes a detour into action.Megha Akash makes for a pretty love interest. You get ‘moments’, but they don’t translate into a film. In the first five minutes, Gautham establishes everything — tone, texture, and the fact that this isn’t a quintessential boy-meets-girl and-they-lived-happily-ever-after story.In a crucial scene, Raghu says, “I have lived on that neck for six months”, referring to Lekha’s neck. This happens when someone strangles Lekha’s neck. This sounds poetic, but you can’t buy it. Gautham Menon wants you to understand things that he has not conveyed. Like many of his films, as an audience, you are required to interpret Gautham’s thoughts. Enai Noki Paayum Thota is filled with voiceovers. At some point, you feel like you don’t want to hear someone explaining things to you. The film squanders a great premise, and the entire first half has the lead pair working on a preamble to a love story. But Enai Noki Paayum Thota is at its most engaging in the action sequences, which are vividly lensed by Jomon T. John and Manoj Paramahamsa.The other reason ENPT works well is its feel. There’s attitude and classiness from start to finish. ENPT works more like a dream. But you pretty much know it’s just a dream, but not reality.Expressions are Dhanush’s forte, and this is why he works so well as Raghu. It is amazing how the actor transforms into a typical Gautham Menon protagonist. You see the effort he has put in, and Dhanush quite succeeds in making it credible.Gautham Menon’s previous film Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada had a lot of this flavour too—romance, followed by action elements.
