JOIN US'Nayattu' movie review: A reasonably engaging thriller
Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Joju George, and Nimisha
Director: Martin Prakkat
Rating: 3/5
There's no denying the fact that the Malayalam film industry has garnered a fair deal of attention over the years due to 'realistic' films such as Kumbalangi Nights, Virus and Maheshinte Pratikaaram. Director Martin Prakkat's latest movie Nayattu is another reasonably good attempt at storytelling.
Plot
It revolves around three police persons, who find themselves on the run following an unexpected turn of events. The plot is reminiscent of the one seen in the web series Paatal Lok as both ultimately deal with cops who end up fighting against the very system that they were once a part of.
Screenplay
The film's premise reaches its potential to a certain extent due to the sincere execution. Indian cinema's cops can be put into two distinct categories-- 'larger-than-life' and 'true to life'. Singham and Chulbul Pandey fall into the first category whereas Mammootty's character from Unda belongs to the second one.
Nayattu follows the Unda model. The makers try to explore the 'human side' of the cops by focussing on their personal lives. While these sequences are important, they end up being mere subplots as the film soon moves into the thriller space.
A thriller usually needs to have a chilling opening sequence in order to make an impact. The Tamil movie Ratsasan, for example, opened with two aged people discovering a dead body. Nayattu proves to be an exception to his norm and takes the Drishyam 2 route instead.
The opening sequences are slow and try to establish the film's world. This dilutes the impact of the first few minutes. Things, however, soon get back on track courtesy of a sequence set in the police station.
The film touches upon caste but refrains from going into the issue in depth.
Performances
Kunchacko Boban puts his best foot forward and delivers the goods when needed. His natural intensity in a confrontation makes the action more relatable. He internalises the character and lets his silences do the talking.
Joju George does justice to a complex character that is completely different from the one he played in the Mammootty-starrer One.
Malayalam cinema is known for well-defined female characters. Aditi Rao Hydari and Parvathy, for example, got ample scope in Sufiyum Sujatayum and Uyare. Nayattu is the exception to the norm on this front. Nimisha plays second fiddle to Kunchacko and Joju George for the better part of the film and is burdened with a one-dimensional character.
Technical aspects
The background music gels well with the narrative but isn't as haunting as the one heard in Jallikattu, a film that had an equally dark theme. The editing is up to the mark but the opening scene overstays its welcome. There is a song as well but it does not dilute the film's realistic feel. Its presentation is similar to Noor-e-Khuda from My Name is Khan.