‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’ is a heap of stereotypes that have piled on, most of which are ill-conceived. Jumbled and disconnected to the core, ‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’ flounders all along, and in jaded circumstances as these, what use is a talented cast determined to do an honest job?
Love doesn’t flow smooth in A R Binuraj’s ‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’, a lesson that its protagonist Sajimon (Vishnu Unnikrishnan) discovers the hard way. Apparently, having been in love ever since his school days, Sajimon has three tales to tell – all on love – and ‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’ offers us a litmus test to check when the colour of our endurance will finally change.
It’s quite a long winding romance that Binuraj comes up with, and the first thing that any reader should probably do is to chuck out any semblance to Puthren’s ‘Premam’ that is very likely to spring to mind. Comparing the two films would be quite awkward, since ‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’ has none of the likeability or the warmth that had made ‘Premam’ an instant hit.
What’s even probably more interesting than the film itself is an analysis of the thought processes behind it. Forget the wafer thin plotline that threatens to crack any moment, equally deplorable are the frivolous dialogues and tedious sequences that continue to unwind at an even pace, for what seems like forever.
It becomes very obvious that the stakes of this romantic tale are too low to rake up any fizz. What remains is an excruciating wait for the narrative to draw to a close, and ‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’ is by no means a terse, slickly edited film. It actually believes that it has a lot to tell, and coerces us to play along.
The climax holds within a startling memo of sorts, that serves as an additional final nail on this already sealed coffin. As this far-fetched scenario plays out, there are a few things that its chief characters fall short on – reason, logic and charm, just to mention a few. It’s a strange piece of work, that revolves around a man thirsty for love, and who is denied it, for quite obvious reasons to which he remains oblivious throughout.
There are times when the film appears as if it’s in auto pilot mode, lethargically elaborating on a sequence that has long lost purpose. There is a guaranteed template that the film apparently hopes to fit into, but when it’s a comedy that’s not funny, and a drama that is not emotional, it’s no wonder that that it ends up an artless piece.
I wonder if Binuraj was actually after something much better than what ‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’ offers on screen, but it doesn’t strike you as an ambitious picture, with the kind of makeshift screenwriting that it flaunts. Its capacity to entertain is also questionable, as is its ability to make people laugh.
Vishnu Unnikrishnan is on real shaky ground here, and there is hardly anything that even Dharmajan Bolgatty can do, despite remaining a part of the production crew. There are quite a few other actors who are part of the fray – Basil Joseph, Manju Pillai, Jayasree Sivadas and Akhila Nath – each of whom remains as clueless as the other as to where they are all headed.
‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’ is a heap of stereotypes that have piled on, most of which are ill-conceived. Jumbled and disconnected to the core, ‘Nithyaharitha Nayakan’ flounders all along, and in jaded circumstances as these, what use is a talented cast determined to do an honest job?
Verdict: Tiresome