Rambo's come to town

A young couple in love are on a trip. The girl is kidnapped and the distraught boy goes in search of the girl into the forests...

Newbie Naveen gets a perfect launchpad in Nayaka. This tall muscle makes most of the actioner set inside the forest. His dialogue delivery drips with a first-timer’s earnestness, masking the accent. Not so with Nan Kadavul Rajendran, whose dialogue delivery is atrocious, bravado restricted to tearing his ganji off to show those fab-abs and who roars like a lion bitten by a swarm of ants, each time he is angry. Too much sincerity can be an overkill...

The dubbing artist for Ragini is a disaster, further reducing her character into a caricature - it is only during the climax that the leggy heroine’s eyes speak volumes. By then, precious minutes are wasted. 

But Murali Krish’s camera keeps up the audience’s affair with Nature alive - there’s little to show man’s contrived understanding of principles of co-existence. The plot too is alright, except that the screenplay tries too hard to be simple. Full credit to the re-recording team; Arjun’s background score deserves all the applause.

A worthy effort from a fresh team that falls short of excellence, Nayaka nevertheless brings back memories of Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo...