About a month back when "Bheeshma Parvam" hits the screens amidst much hype and fanfare. Well the movie was a rage & went on to cash in more than 120 C at the box office as per reports. Interestingly, on the same day another movie with a credible cast & crew also decided to showcase its content. That particular flick happened to be Aashiq Abu's "Naaradan" which had Tovino in the lead with the subject being the fight for TRPs by the media houses & the extent to which they are willing to stoop down to. Since I had missed to watch it in the theatres, I happened to watch it only last night on Amazon Prime.
Chandraprakash/CP (Tovino) was the star anchor of News Malayalam who enjoyed the approval of the public. This naturally irked his Chief Editor, Kurup (Joy Mathew) who believed that the dynamic reporter was gunning for his position. At this juncture, a fellow journalist Pradeep John (Sharafudeen) from a rival channel does a Naxalite story that captures eyeballs & Kurup brings him on board with the intention of cutting CP down to size. But little did he realize that his decision would have a totally opposite impact.
The last time around, Aashiq did a full length movie; it resulted in "Virus" which is one of my favorite movies over the past many years. So when it was announced that he was joining hands with Unni R on the subject of media houses, the expectations were nigh high. With the experience of having worked with Asianet for close to two decades coupled with Unni's ability to weave an engaging script, it was surely a recipe for success. Well it certainly didnt quite pan out in that manner (at least for me). The manner in which the story takes off with a glimpse of the competition was engaging but when the protagonist decides to embrace unethical journalism to remain on top; it lacked the punch that was expected despite the undeniable inspirations from real life events like the Mangalam channel launch, Kunal Kamra-Arnab heckling issue or the protagonist anchoring style as such reflective of Arnab's. On the technical side, it was fine be it Jaffer Zadique's visuals or Gary Pereira's BGM.
On the performance front, pretty much everyone did their parts aptly though the lack of a well written character arc did affect quite a few of them. It was most evident in Tovino's case especially when he takes on the Naaradan mantle as it felt more like a caricature rather than a realistic feel to it. Sharafudeen, Anna Ben & Indrans all impressed in the opportunities allotted to them.
Verdict: It certainly had the content and the talent on board, but the execution left a lot to be desired. It kind of vaguely reminded me of Anwar Rasheed's "Trance" in the manner it was staged. In short, could have been far better!!!
Rating: 2/5
Regards...Ben
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