Managed to catch this movie at MidValley on Saturday 4.30pm show (the only one available). Cost RM22 for both of us. And I got an earful for wasting 2 hours of Then’s time!

The movie is a local fare produced by Crescendo Productions and directed by Dharmavathi. There were only 4 of us in the cinema, but a few others came in halfway through the two hour movie.

The story is quite straightforward. “Naana Neeya” means “me or you”, referring to a challenge or question. The plot is as follows: A husband (Appalasamy acted by Shan) and wife (Manggalam acted by Jayasudha, one of the Astro’s Vizhuthugal host I think)  family moves in to a rented house in a normal urban neighbourhood (Bandar Kinrara). Their neighbour (Gundotharan acted by Kulal Kesavan) is a self-proclaimed rowdy (who works as a security guard at Poh Kong Jewellery). He lives with his wife Pakiam (Malarvili) and two kids. He has a thug friend (Sankara) who has two sidekicks. Other secondary characters are the house landlord Uncle Mydin who runs a mamak stall,  Manggalam’s father and younger sister, and Gundotharan’s brother in law, Partihban. So, Gundo, being a nuisance, try to show his neighbor whose the boss. He gets pleasure in tormenting his neighbors and chasing them out of their house so he can live without any neighbors. This leads to many comical situation and forms the bulk of the story. Oh, did I mention that Manggalam is half-deaf, causing more comedic scenes? In the end, the story is about how a irritating, self-serving, bullying, thoughtless neighbour repents.

Quality wise, i feel the movie had a DVD cam recording feeling. The picture was clear, but with the “dotty” appearance. The dubbing was not in sync and at times ill-matched. The background sounds tend to over-emphasise the scenes and for me, was a turn-off. There was constant background music or sounds which hindered the delivery at times.

Overall, it was like a local drama over two hours. The story dragged on, nothing complex or hidden message involved. Straightforward story, that seems to be just sailing on its own with loads of comedic dialog.

The acting was average at best. Most actors overdid their expressions and were too animated for my liking. Nothing like what a normal Malaysian Indian will do. Same like those Tamil movies we watch where we tend to criticise the acting for being melodramatic or “too much”. I can only guess that the director wanted to have similar recipe as Indian tamil movies. I don’t have any clue why THR Selvi had to make guest appearance TWICE which did not serve to enhance the plot. Her wooden acting and limited words made it a negative point. I think only Appalasamy and Manggalam merit a mention for decent effort. Malarvili also did a bit OK, but over animated at times. The sister and brother of each neighbor are not suited for acting in those roles. Didn’t seem to gel.

What I enjoyed was the dialogues especially those that make use of Manggalam’s deafness. The dialogues had an element of “loyar buruk” when the actors interacted. Quite funny indeed. So, one can say that this is situational comedy movie.

What REALLY disappointed me was that the hit song Naana Neeya was not in the movie! All this while, I thought the song was part of the movie. But the song came as a video clip as the credits rolled in the end.

By the way, among the name listed for dubbing artistes (I think) was Novinthen. Is that who I think it is?
Conclusion, you can watch this if have two hours to spare and want to have a bit laugh. Other than that, nothing much to say.

Cast: Kulal Kesavan, Shanmuganathan, Malarvili, Jayasudha, Mamu Mydin and others.
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Acting : 3/10
Story : 4/10
Special Effects: 4/10
Cinematography: 5/10
Overall Oomphness: 4/10

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