Naane Varuven: What makes this Dhanush-Selvaraghavan collaboration unique!

The end of September is a big one for Tamil cinema since Mani Ratnam ’s magnum opus ‘ Ponniyin Selvan ’ releases as does Dhanush ’s ‘ Naane Varuven ’. Dhanush has announced that September 29 is the D-Day for his film directed by his brother Selvaraghavan (Selva) when they come together for the fourth time in their careers. They last collaborated a decade back for the 2011 film ‘Mayakkam Enna’ and their fans had been hoping to see them reunite at some point.

The Selvaraghavan factor

Interestingly, Dhanush’s career was kickstarted by his family – his father Kasthuri Raja directed his first film ‘Thulluvadho Ilamai’ in 2002 and his brother Selvaraghavan directed ‘Kaadhal Kondein’ (2003) where he essayed the role of a mentally-disturbed young boy who was in love with his friend. Both the films went on to become hits. To follow up on their success, the National Award-winning actor and Selvaraghavan joined hands again in 2006 for ‘Pudhupettai’, a gangster film where ‘The Gray Man’ star played Kokki Kumar. This movie became a cult classic and the audience was clamouring for a sequel which hasn’t happened till date. This was followed up by the 2011 film ‘Mayakkam Enna’ which was a psychological drama. With this film, Dhanush proved that he was one of the best talents around.

There is no question that Selvaraghavan understands his brother so much so that the characters he writes for him always bring out the best in Dhanush. Selva has never tried to make a commercial masala film where we see the hero throwing massive punches and sending people flying. His characters for Dhanush are always more realistic, underplayed and yet highly nuanced. And that perhaps shows the level of confidence and blind trust the two have in each other to know that they can elicit the best out of each other.

What makes ‘Naane Varuven’ unique?

In the upcoming ‘Naane Varuven’, Dhanush plays dual roles and will be seen as both the hero and the anti-hero and that is the USP of this film produced by Kalaipuli S Thanu. Like their previous films together, one character in the film is flawed psychologically and this seems to be a recurrent theme in the films they have done together. Essaying a character with psychological issues is not easy but Dhanush has pushed boundaries and outdone himself with every film of his through his career. While his brother is directing the film, he will also be seen in front of the camera with Dhanush this time round. This is going to eb a treat for the audience.

Lucky number seven

Everyone knows that Dhanush and music director Anirudh have made some awesome music together but so have music director Yuvan Shankar Raja and Dhanush. In this new film, they are working together for the seventh time and this time too the songs are superhits. While Yuvan has scored music for two previous Selva-Dhanush films – ‘Pudhupettai’ and ‘Kadhal Kondein’ – he has also worked on Dhanush’s ‘Maari 2’, ‘Yaaradi Nee Mohini’, ‘Pudhukottaiyilirundhu Saravanan’ and ‘Thulluvadho Ilamai’.

The present combination of Selvaraghavan, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Dhanush, takes everyone back to Dhanush’s debut 20 years ago and the ‘Raanjhanaa’ actor turned nostalgic when he tweeted, “Selvaraghavan + Yuvan + Aravind Krishna.. well well … right where I started. Very happy to join my maker, my creator and the only reason I’m here today my brother @selvaraghavan again. I hope this time atleast I impress him.”

Latha Srinivasan is a senior journalist based in Chennai. Her passion is entertainment, travel, and dogs.

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