'NGK' Film Review: NGK falls way too short of expectations

This is the first film in Suriya-Selvaraghavan combination, which is also one of the major selling points. The 148-minute and 13 seconds NGK begins with the protagonist Nandha Gopalan Kumaran, an MTech graduate taking up organic farming.

Suriya despite having a mass fan following gets a simple introduction in the film. NGK is happily married to Geetha Kumari (Sai Pallavi), who supports her husband in his causes. Local politicians destroy the lands of organic farmers in the district with the help of middlemen. This forces NGK to foray into politics and that is the beginning of the common man slowly trying to rise to power in the political arena. The other 80 plus minutes from the film is about NGK facing hurdles and overcoming them, which becomes a tiring monologue.

The first half of NGK is less than mediocre, and second half is a notch-below that. NGK reminds us of Selvaraghavan’s characterisation of Dhanush’s Kokki Kumar from Pudhupettai but trying to bring that character into this film through Suriya hasn’t worked. NGK also comes across as a refined version of RJ Balaji’s political satire LKG. Both NGK and LKG deal with the rise of the common man to a political leader. Rakul Preet Singh plays a PR consultant who guides NGK to popularity, much like what Priya Anand for RJ Balaji in LKG.

Back to NGK, it is Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music in the first half that is the talking point and Suriya’s performance in the second half make us sit through the film. However, wrongly-placed songs and unnecessary scenes and characters with loose ends make the film a rough ride.

There are a few well-written scenes too. In the scene where Giri (Bala Singh) insists that NGK enters politics and we see a hoarding of the late Chief Minister MG Ramachandran in the background. The hospital fight scene in the second half is well choreographed. Selvaraghavan has also fallen short in making the roles of his heroines Sai Pallavi and Rakul Preet create any onscreen impact. The climax too is specious and doesn’t provide a satisfying watch. Overall, NGK is a huge let down for Suriya and Selva fans.