Njan Ninnodu Koodeyundu

Coming from director Priyanandanan,  Njan Ninnodu Koodeyundu is an over dramatic satire that kind of impresses with its underlying sarcasm on the society. Inspired from a play written by Saadat Hasan Manto, the only major drawback of this sociopolitical parody is that it is deliberately dramatic and should have been more cinematic. The idea they put forward through the movie is something that demands attention of the society as it holds mirror to its flaws, but the lack of charm in presentation makes it a not so appealing satire.

The movie describes its viewpoints through the eyes of two thieves Damanan and Madhanan. Madhanan is the inexperienced one and Damanan trains him to be a better thief. After an unsuccessful robbery Damanan and Madhanan ends up in a land where the basic laws of that society were strange from what we see in our world. How the life there influences both the thieves is what the content of Njan Ninnodu Koodeyundu trying to narrate.

The film begins with an interesting justification by the thieves about not being wrong in the society. The movie manages to move smoothly by creating some amount of curiosity and some good humor with its content. However, the occasional dramatic feel becomes excessive in the second half making it almost a stage drama. With actors, finding it difficult to emote (supporting cast) the scenes becomes unappealing and the concept becomes the focus point.

I was not that impressed with the performance by Siddharth Bharathan. When compared to Siddharth, the theater actor Vinay Forrt did a much better job by making the innocent Madhanan a sensible character even when the dialogues were limiting him. Rest of the cast was not that great.

Priyanandanan was successful in keeping the movie in a good pace (something that we do not get to see in these so-called parallel cinemas). By choosing suitable locations cinematographer Shan Rahman gives beauty to the imaginary village.  As I already mentioned, the screenplay is a bit confused about being realistic or dramatic. May be because of the hidden sarcasm, they tried to be too theatrical but that rather derails the movie from its mission. There are multiple loose end subplots that makes fun of the common man’s attitude. Edits are fine. That one song was nice.

Overall, it is an interesting concept that has relevance in the present scenario, but the presentation lacked a gripping narration. Rating for the movie is 2.5/5.