Inimey Nangathan


Inimey Nangathan is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language animated family film, directed by Venkybaboo. It was the first Tamil film to be animated. The film went unnoticed due to the lack of big stars. The film won the National Film Award for Best Animated Film.

Plot

The film depicts Vichu, Varadhu, Vaithi, and Govind as four friends who earn their livelihood doing kathakalakshepam. They want to become rich and famous. They come across an old lady who offers to help them become rich overnight, and then advises them to meet a swamiji. The swamiji agrees to help them, but on one condition, they should retrieve a holy necklace from rakshasas.
The four friends set out to the cave, where they meet a colorful character from the sea in a golden palace. They reach a flowing desert, where Govind pushes them into a pit and then a very tall mountain rises, ending Govind's story.
The others reach a hill with stones. Varadhu wants to kill them, so he pushes a big stone onto them. Varadhu eats a fruit given to him by the Swamiji. Since he ate the full fruit, he becomes very fat and his face gets stuck in a doorway. This is the end of Varadhu.
Vaithi does not listen to Vichu and says that all the diamonds belong to him. He pushes Vichu into a valley. The diamonds become weapons, touching Vaithi, and his body disappears. If he goes out of the cave, he blends into the air. This is the end of Vaithi.
Vichu falls into the valley. He finds the holy necklace, but a rakshas guards it. Vichu fights with the rakshas and takes the necklace.
Later Vichu gives the necklace to the Swamiji. In exchange for the holy necklace, the Swamiji gives the golden palace to Vichu, but Vichu refuses. He tells her that he has gotten what he wanted in his journey and goes back to his village. The Swamiji tells him telepathically that he will come back, so he will wait for him. The film ends with a golden cow following Vichu.

Voice cast

  • M.S. Bhaskar as Vishwanathan a.k.a. Vichu
  • Pandu as Varadarajan a.k.a. Varadhu
  • Vasu Vikram as Vaidyanathan a.k.a. Vaithi
  • Maaran as Venkata Govindarajan a.k.a. Govind
  • Murali Kumar as Priest

Music

Songs were composed by Ilaiyaraaja

Reception

Divya Kumar of The Hindu wrote "Overall, however, this ambitious movie is a step in the right direction. With some interesting touches like the characters turning into a rock band briefly, and an imaginative non-mythological plotline, it tries to do a few different things and while it isn’t perfect, it succeeds in taking animation a step further in India". Rediff wrote "If you can ignore the sometimes inadequate dialogue and trite screenplay, it's a squeaky clean, promising fare. For all its predictability, you can see enough creativity and colourful settings to watch out the movie right till the end". Malini Mannath of Chennai Online wrote "With its crisp editing and engaging background score aiding it, it is worth appreciating the experiment in 3D animation that maintains the nativity and local flavour".