Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam

On a return bus trip from a holy Christian shrine, a group of Malayalees doze off to discover midway that the cantankerous group leader has stopped the bus and walked off nonchalantly into a remote Tamil village to assume the life of a simple milkman. The Tamil family into whom he imposes his presence have barely recovered from the mysterious loss of their son and husband two years prior. The villagers are bewildered by this imposter who looks nothing like him but who acts to all intents and purposes like the deceased, a factor which is beguiling and unsettling. The daughter and brother of the deceased are incensed by the arrival of the interloper whilst the aged, blind mother affectionately accepts him without question.

As confusion reigns, it is left to the the father of the deceased to prevail upon the odd circumstances with kindness and empathy whilst marshalling the villagers into caring for the traumatised family of the imposter. The two wives caught up in this drama are linked by a shared trauma, the Malayalee wife dealing with the sudden inexplicable loss of her husband's personality and the deceased man's wife with a closure that has been cruelly disrupted.

Theni Eswar's thoughtful cinematography is a centrepiece of the artful direction of this movie - a homage to the acclaimed Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray with its carefully framed snippets of the chief protagonist's intrusion into the unhurried pace and bucolic lifestyle of a remote village in Tamil Nadu. The dreamlike theme developed by director Lijo Jose Pallissery might well be an allegory of life (waking to consciousness) and death (falling asleep) and how faithfully we hold the roles dictated by family, society and culture on life's ephemeral stage. A rare delight to soak in.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is made in a super abstract way with a truly unique atmosphere. A more audience friendly approach could would have worked better. I did not love it. Also, most of it is in Tamil. I might have to rewatch a subtitled version.

It was definitely an interesting and entertaining story. Mammoty was quite good. But I do not know why people are praising the performance to the skies. I did not care much for the treatment either. Static frames that people are raving about took away a lot of the tension from the scenes. Cacophonic songs and conversations from old Tamil movies constantly playing in the village as a part of everyday life was annoying. As expected, S Hareesh fails to turn up as dialog writer. The same was the case with Jallikattu and Churuli. Hareesh simply cannot come up with interesting dialog.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is worth a watch. But wayyy overrated. I might watch it again. It is not a bad film. The problem is that Lijo fails to milk interesting characters, locales and situations to their full potential because he is too busy being arty farty. As I said early in the review, a more commercial approach could have done wonders to the film. Lijo says he has evolved in an interview. Well, he has evolved into a total phoney. Hahahahaha! I long for the Lijo of the Angamaly Diaries and Ee Maa Yau days.

Long awaited combo LJP and Mamooty was definitely worth the wait.

The unexpected twist not only confused the character in the story but also the viewers.

Totally different style of making followed by LJP adds on to uniquifing the film.

The story blended in well the cultural values of societies which made me like the film more.

Even though every character had got a defined role, the character done by Mamooty excels in all the aspects of protrayal.

Short and well written script along with nicely blended in music and sound design.

As in all LJP's movies certain questions are unanswered and completely left to the viewers for further interpretation.

The movie is visual poetry, from cinematography to acting to the beautiful tamil songs woven into the narrative, this movie is a wondrous delight for any aesthete.

Its a pleasure to see Mammootty sir at full throttle accompanied by a stellar supporting cast.

LJP is an auteur par excellence who is trying to engage the audience with an exploration into society, identity and its fickleness. This odyssey into the human mind is brilliantly supported by Theni Eswar who has clearly upped his game here, the unsymmetrical static shots with multiple activities in a single frame give this movie an ethereal feel.

Personally it still doesn't make sense to me why this movie was not given the Golden Pheasant at IFFK. This was more brilliant than the exploration of climate change and cultural identity done within Utama.

Overall a brilliant cinematic experience.

Unbelievable is the first word comes to my mind for what is achieved through this masterpiece. I am a non Malayali or Tamil speaking person and watched it in hindi. I loved the way the director unfolds this perfect movie.

This has an Oscar deserving Direction and sound design at the display. Something that you might have never experienced even if you are a Hitchcock or Kurosawa fan.

The metaphor of sleep as rebirth is apt. The acting is nearly perfect and the chaos is masterful. Its a drama par excellence reaching to the level of meditative experience.

Story: 9/10 The layered story with perfect execution. One star deducted for relying on the background sounds for understanding the context.

Screenplay: 10/10 It's as perfect as it is humanly possible.

Direction: 10/10 This is the first movie I watched from this masterful director and I am going to watch all of his work.

Sound: 10/10 So much to take in, the use of TV sounds and movie's context for an North indian is a great initiation to malyali and tamil cinema.

Art Direction:10/10 It's perfect, perfect and perfect.

Acting: 10/10.

Mammotty achieved something unimaginable for all other great actor of our time. At the age of 70 years this is art at its best. He deserves all accolades.

Do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece and you will forget that bollywood garbage forever.