Director Suseenthiran delivered a poignant romance with his first film ‘Vennila Kabadi Kulu’. Hop-skipping into an unusual genre of ‘crime-thriller’ in this film, he has come up with moderate efforts. ‘Naan Mahaan Alla’ doesn’t boast of an unusual storyline, as it’s all about an ordinary man seeking revenge for his father’s death. Icing of the cake is Karthi’s extraordinary performance.

Jeeva (Karthi) is jobless and keeps killing his time with friends. It’ a paradisiacal scenario for Jeeva as he has a supportive family: father Jayaprakash, a cab driver by profession supports him while his mother Lakshmi doesn’t take a word against his freewheeling nature and sister Keerthi (Krishna Priya), with whom he plays pranks upon. He woos down Priya (Kajal Agarwal) right on the first meeting at his friend’s marriage. On parallel lines, a group of 5 college students involved in Ganja smoking, raping girls and murdering them. What unfolds next is unexpected twist in the tale that brings Jeeva across these dangerous roughnecks.

First things first, Karthi’s ability to get under the skin of his characterization is a prodigious attempt. His abilities to evoke laughter patently with his simplistic gestures and one-liners are enjoyable and his emotional outburst of bashing down the baddies is far beyond excellence. Kajal Agarwal doesn’t proper scope to perform as she disappears during second half. Jayaprakash is outstanding as he carries off with naturalistic performance and so is Lakshmi performing the role of Karthi’s mother. Art director Rajeevan as police commissioner is okay. The 5 guys in the role of baddies are mind-boggling.
On the flip side, there are few ambiguities involved in the screenplay as the reason behind Karthi’s transition isn’t shown with the right sense. Working on sketch plan to bump off of an ordinary cab driver is completely ridiculous. Maybe, if they worked on such minute process for killing a tycoon or film actor, it’s worth accepting it. On reality grounds, a police commissioner is supposed to get more involved in the case when the witness is murdered with such intentions that he shouldn’t survive. In contrary, he accepts to withdraw the case on Karthi’s request.

Technically, Yuvan Shankar Raja’s musical score is crème de la crème as both his songs and background score is extraordinary. The song ‘Iragai Poley’ is a feet-tapping number while the background score during climax stunts is overpowering. Mathi’s cinematography is top-notching as he captures the Chennai’s location with different shades. Kasi Viswanathan’s editing is good.
On the whole, ‘Naan Mahaan Alla’ has few drawbacks. However, if watched without any expectations or if you aren’t concerned about such minuses, you’re sure to enjoy the film.

Verdict: Average