Instead of force-feeding us with periodicity, Darbuka Siva allows the actors to free-flow into the characters. The one problem that I had was in keeping up with the identity of all the youngsters . There are so many of them! Luckily writer-director Siva allows us to choose our favourites.I came away with the thoughtful musician Vinoth (Kishen Das), the foolhardy Chinese (Harish Kumar, over-the-top initially but settles in), the over smart and mean Catherine (Purva Raghunath), the conservative and possessive Rekha (Meetha Raghunath)…all outstanding in their inconspicuous everyman-ship.Darbuka Siva extracts the optimum from the indefinable elixir of youth and its impulsive follies. And yet for all its raunchiness and recklessness, it is not all fun and games in the plot which some critics have called “rambling”. It can’t be helped, really. Growing up is not as linear and neat as many coming-of-age films make it seem.MNMN is not afraid to fall off the edge. The narrative often takes impetuous leaps of faith, opting to remain true to the young protagonists’ journey of life rather than looking to somehow tie up the loose ends. There is a dark subplot about the homophobic Richard (Varun Rajan) bullying Francis (Rahul Kannan) all the way from school to the old boys’ reunion and then suddenly, and unconvincingly apologizing to the victim. Could this apology be just so that Richard’s sensible and just wife is appeased?
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