Naaradhan Malayalam Movie
Naaradan comes with quite a star cast, and I do not mean 'star' in the actorly sense of the word. The director of the movie, Ashiq Abu, has made some of the best Malayalam films of the last decade. The writer of the film, Unni R., is known for such titles as Munnariyippu, Charlie, and Prathi Poovankozhi. Besides, in Tovino Thomas, it has one of the most bankable actors of Malayalam cinema.
For the first hour or so, you get the impression that the makers are showing us a portrait of the Kerala media world. It is a pretty good portrait in that it shows media as a world where there is a rat race for TRP ratings and the end justifies the means. As the editor of News Malayalam, Joy Mathew tells his channel anchor and journalist Chandra Prakash (Tovino Thomas) to somehow make the viewership of the channel better than the other channel. The anchor and journalist of the other news channel, Sharafudheen's Pradeep John, makes all the sensational pieces of news, but his channel does not pay its employees timely.
At the end of the day at work, both CP and Pradeep come to the bar at the Press Club and share a drink or two with other media people. The movie shows this daily grind that journalists go through, quite well. And soon, we realize that the nature of their jobs will take a toll on at least one of them.
It is a pretty good start for the movie, but we do not have anything in the way of a plot for a whole hour. The focus on CP's way of working gives us the impression that Abu and Unni are going to make the movie more about him, like a character study. But the movie then changes tracks to the courtroom, where small plot elements re-emerge out of nowhere.
Approximately, the last 45 minutes of the movie happen in the courtroom. Invariably, what happens in a courtroom is a clash between the claims of two people or two entities. In other words, it is a personal battle. Unni and Abu try to add their big ideas to the courtroom parts, but the ideas remain detached from the movie. The ideas are so broad that the actors only work as mere carriers for the messages that the movie wants to deliver.
Now, a lot of these ideas about ethics in journalism, freedom of expression and so forth are interesting. But it will only work as a movie if the makers treat the material as a movie. I could not believe it when a character makes a speech at the end while forgetting his primary duties.
Tovino Thomas is a wonderful actor, and his decisions to do bit roles and non-image conscious roles in films are commendable. However, what he does here is a lot of posturing. That said, it is worth asking what one can do when a movie like this goes south. You can be a star, but how many stars or actors can keep a ship with a rocky foundation from sinking?
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