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.

Each and every movies of LJP stands different from one and another here the film moves at a slow pace but still kept me hooked till the end and all the frames of the movie were a wide and static similarly the sound design was really so good and it was a different expirience. The movie interprets into a way in which the audience can decide what happened to James or whatever happened really did happen !. The movie starts from a conflict while sleeping and finds a solution after a sleep. I really enjoyed the movie it's pace, sound design, performances, frames and i think everyone should watch it.

Director Lijo Jose Pellissery is always searching for a variety of plots and themes for his next ventures. All of his films differ from each other in that path. His latest one, Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam was screened in the 2022 IFFK and receives wonderful acclamations. Now the film is out in theatres and is wrapped with positive responses. Veteran actor Mammootty's production banner's first production venture was Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam. But the film that came out for the first time through Mammootty Kampany in theaters was Rorschach. Likewise, the title of the film talks about the nap. The nap of a theatre artist named James and the routine of a local Tamilian named Sundaram was the element in the film. The structure of the script lies in the category of Magical realism. We had seen that kind of writing pattern in his previous film, Churuli. We can tie this film into the perspective of a character dimension contrast. While James taking a nap and awake as Sundaram and Sundaram taking a nap and awake back to James was the exact idea behind the film. The period between those two naps was the subject of the film. When we examine the film in detail we find that kind of confusing and somehow ambiguous underlying plot which is like a dream or a thing that is going to happen. There lies the open-end description of the film. The frames are like wallpaper because the shots are static which smoothly allows James to incarnate Sundaram. The ambient sounds like old film dialogues, devotional songs from the temple, radio songs, etc played a wonderful job to enhance the movie. All actors justified their characters the most. Lijo spends a lot of effort to find new faces for his characters and here also we can find strange faces. But it's quite unbelievable that a familiar face doing strange things throughout the film and that was Mammootty, who portrays both James and Sundaram. Yet another Lijo magic that feels like a nap done by James and others which fell us into a deep sleep encircled with a beautiful dream. And that dream is Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam.

A poetic exploration of human identity and belonging, which also serves as a critique to the unfortunate tendency of society and its naive, ignorant members to undervalue these aspects, prioritizing physical appearances over somebody's personality and intellect.

The cinematography captivated me, as it conveyed unuttered, insinuated context beautifully through skillfully arranged frames, enriching each pivotal scene with depth and meaning.

Performances were another standout aspect, particularly that of Mammootty, who once again showed his remarkable ability to embody any character with apparent ease and effortlessness!

That being said, I wish the writing had elaborated on the peculiar occurrence and provided additional context, as this would have enlightened the narrative.

Nonetheless, I do appreciate the story's ambiguity, which raises some intriguing questions about whether the event was merely a vivid dream, a distant memory, or something beyond comprehension that transcends boundaries of our tangible reality?

This movie is not for everyone. This is an excellent sleeping pill for those who like violence,gunfires, crime, thrill and suspense. Such people stay away from this movie unless you are suffering from sleep deprivation.

This movie is intended for a calm and serene population.

My personal opinion: I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The peaceful environment which is maintained throughout the movie put me through a trance state. The sound design was excellent. Its essential to get rid of violence, terror and nauseating love stories and to discover the beauty of peace and tranquility. It's a very soothing and refreshing experience.

LJP and team delivered it again.