I won’t say that I have lost hope in the writing of Mr. Sreenivasan after watching Nagara Varidhi Naduvil Njan, as there were a lot of points in the movie where you can see the dialogue writer in him pouring quality sarcasm. The problem is with the story that lacks a different approach towards the contemporary issues. There is little the screenplay can do to enhance the quality and thus Shibu Balan’s debut venture is a disappointing film that needed a more powerful spotlight to show its depth.
Venu was an NRI who had a great time in Saudi Arabia and during Nitaqat time he lost his job and subsequently was ignored by his family. Forced to live as a security in a flat for a really small salary, Venu was finding it difficult to live. To give wings to the dreams of his daughter, Venu decides to sell his small property in the middle of the town. As the property was acquired by public as nobody looked after it for more than 20 years, things became harder for Venu. How he ultimately fixed all the problems is what this movie narrating to us.
Waste management, problems in real estate dealings and also the rising cost of education are contemporary and significant topics, which answers the question of why this movie was made. But as I said, the kind of fiction writer-director Shibu Balan added to his story that comprises of typical political dramas and non exciting twists makes the movie dull. There isn’t much of a movement in the narrative to keep things in an engaging mode and the pleasure is limited to certain interesting dialogue counters.
On screen, the role suits someone like Sreenivasan, who has the history of doing this kind of lower middle class family man character. Sangeetha is casted just to create an excitement of seeing Chinthavishttayaya Shyamala pair on screen. Rest of the cast comprises of Lal, Innocent, Manoj K Jayan, Vijayaraghavan, Sreejith Ravi, Joy Mathew (luckily not speaking any Hindi) and many more who have done a nice job.
Shibu Balan as a director is pretty much similar to Mr Sathyan Anthikkadu as frames and characters has that typical nature and also in the style with which he approaches minor events. Where he failed big time is in creating a good story and also in writing fresh subplots. Towards the end, all those political games seem like an unnecessary addition, just added to showcase someone’s political view point. Dialogues were good. Cinematography was poor. Edits are okay. Not so great music and background score.
Overall Nagara Varidhi Naduvil Njan didn’t make me happy when I look at it as a Sreenivasan movie. It’s a small preacher which will neither bore you nor influence you (which it was supposed to do). The rating is 2/5 for this Shibu Balan film.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
