Those who live by the sword die by the sword’ is the premise of the plot. A love story set against the backdrop of the underworld, gang wars, and the criminalization of politics, Nanda Nanditha is a remake of a Kannada film (Nanda Loves Nanditha). It’s yet another routine entertainer which offers nothing novel either by script or presentation.
The story centers on Nanda, a school dropout. Kicked out of his house by his alcoholic father and his abusive stepmother, Nanda takes the job of a loan recovery agent for a friend. And when the group get an offer from a thug (Nasser revelling in his role) to bump off a politician, Nanda- against wiser counsel- persuades them to grab the opportunity to make big money. It would be a one-time-act, he assures them. Nanda decides that he would then give up his violent ways and settle down with his new-found lady love Nanditha (Meghnaraj).
But when the gang botches up the killing, it sets forth a chain of events from which there is no turning back. Hemachandran (of Puzhal fame), with his rough demeanour, fits in adequately, and brings out the torment of Nanda effectively.
The initial encounters and blossoming of love between Nanda and Nanditha (Meghnaraj ) are most unconvincing. The plan to murder the politician is a detailed one, with Nanda and gang earning the man’s trust and luring him to a deserted place. But the man escapes with his life, we are told.
Though we are never shown how he managed to extricate himself from such a tight situation. The alienation of the lovers too seems contrived. At the end of the film, there is hardly any character that is alive.
Nanditha’s brother’s tryst with rowdy elements, a subplot in the film, is a lengthy one. It neither has any relevance to the main plot, nor is it convincingly etched. With so much of gory killing going around the place, the cops, except for a blaring siren, are an invisible lot. It’s surprising that a Kannada flick which created no great ripples at the box office, and had a routine scenario so familiar to Tamil audiences, should be chosen to be remade in Tamil.