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Nandanam (2002)
I don’t understand Malayalam. It is to me as any other foreign language as Japanese, Spanish or any African language for that matter. But I have heard a lot of things about Malayalam cinema. Mathew is a malu. Sometimes when I went to his house, I would find the whole family watching Malayalam movies on Malayalam channels. Everybody would be so engrossed in the movie that I felt like a foreigner there. The worst were the comedies. They would be laughing loudly but I would never understand the joke. I then started translating the movie for them, interpreting it in my own way unless someone would either shout at me or kick me out.
I asked him to teach me Malayalam but he only knew how to speak Malayalam and did not know how to teach me Malayalam. I have watched a couple of Malayalam movies here thanks to a mallu colleague here.
Nandanam is again courtesy my colleague and of course I can watch it because of the subtitles. Not all the regional films have subtitles, unfortunately. Days earlier, I had downloaded Bengali “Unishe April” I cannot watch that too because it does not have subtitles.
Nandanam is the story of a maid servant, Balamani who comes to work in the village of Guruvaryapan (Lord Krishna) temple. She is a devotee of Lord Krishna and sees him as her saviour. She specifically joins the house so that she can visit the temple. She works for a old lady known as Unniamma. The house also has three old servants who pass on the work to each other. One day Balamani see her own marriage in a dream with a man she does not know. The man turns out to be Unniamma’s grandson, Manu.
Predictably Balamani and Manu fall in love. Manu is supposed to leave for US for higher studies. However, Manu’s mother fixes his marriage to a different girl. In order not to hurt Manu’s mother’s feeling, Balamani decides to sacrifice her love and convinces Manu to do so too but not before Manu confesses to his mother. But the confession comes too late. The marriage is fixed in a short time and circumstances forces Balamani to stay till the marriage is over.
She has faith in Lord Krishna and asks his strength to stay strong. How her faith in god does brings a happy ending to her story forms the rest of the story. The second part is a fantasy element combined with a love story.
A story like Nandanam where a rich boy falls in love with a poor girl and they face opposition is seen in many Indian movies. We even saw the reverse version in “Titanic”. What changes is the second part of the movie when a bit of fantasy is introduced in the form of Balamani’s neighbor, Unni who is a form of Lord Krishna. The villain here is not the boy’s family but the circumstances in which the events occur. The end is predictable as it is a happy story. Also the twist which should have been surprising does not surprise at all. I could guess the end when the character is introduced at the start of the first half.
However the climax is more of an anti-climax with not much of a story there. The hero’s grandmother acts as the hero in the climax. Although a good but repeated story line, the story lacks in pace. The first half is extremely lackluster with the love story taking the center stage. The reason for Balamani to accept Manu’s proposal does not seem convincing enough. Also Manu’s attraction for Balamani is without reason although the reverse can be accepted as Balamani had already seen Manu in her dreams.
The story does picks up in the second half on the anticipation of some action happening with Lord Krishna coming into picture. But the climax takes the punch out of the story.
The story takes place in Kerala household and the story is set around the daily activity of a rural Kerala household. Malayalam movies are effectively portrayed in Kerala and it goes to prove how a story can be told without having foreign locations.
Navya Nair plays Balamani and is the heart of the film. She is effective in every frame of the film she is in. She has shown her pain, anguish and suffering of being a maid servant effectively. The film revolves around her and she does give a restrained performance. She did get the state award for best actress for this film.
Pritviraj plays Manu, the hero. He is not the hero in the sense because he acts as a mere spectator rather than the usual hero who takes decision in his own hand.
Revati plays Manu’s mother and is ok in her role as a widow who had taken care of her son without any help from others. Kaviyoor Ponnamma plays Unniamma, the grandmother. She is a very likable character and plays the part well. Arvindan plays Unni, the next door neighbor who assures Balamani every time.
There are others in the movie but these five character play a significant part in the story. Ranjith is the writer and director of the movie. Although slow at parts, he does manages to weave fantasy and real life effectively into a already told story. This was the directorial debut of the director and is a very commendable effort. He does avoid showing miracle in the form of impossible things happening as in case of devotional movies (e.g. Jai Santoshi Maa). The twist though predictable is convincing. I have to agree that the emotions are controlled and the director has extracted good performance from the lead characters. You could watch if you like good clean stories and can do with somewhat slow pace of the film.
Rating: 6.5/10
11 Responses to “Nandanam (2002)”
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Full2faltu, nice write-up. May I add one thing-Ranjith was already an established writer-director when he made this film. This was supposed to be Prithviraj’s debut, but it got stalled because of monetary constraints & his other films released first.:)
If you’re hooked to Malayalam films-try out Blessy’s Kazcha & Thanmathra.
I try Gattu. I have heard about Blessy also but unfortunately I don’t get Subtitles DVD.
Thanks for the correction
Isn’t Thanmathra about Mohanlal having Alzemer diseases?
Punds
Can I ask you guys a question:
How can you guys sit through a movie which is in a language that you do not understand it? I have never ever felt comfortable watching a movie in a language other than Hindi/English. I do not even feel comfortable watching a dubbed film.
HG
let me counter question you;
Why Not?
When Hindi and English churn out one disappointment after another, why not look at other alternatives.
And reffering a cliched quote
“The language of cinema is Unniversal”
-Punds
I’m not saying you should not explore other types of cinema, but i am merely asking, don’t you guys feel uncomfortable watching movies in a language which is alien to you? where as i do. like you said, it’s hard to get jist of the movie without subtitles. and it’s even hard to get into the movie by reading subtitles - which sometimes are so inaccurate.
“The language of cinema is Unniversal”
I kind of disagree. Music can be universal as it does not have any language attached to it other than music.
HG, even I used to feel terribly miserable watching alien language films. But I slowly got used to it. If you join any film society or film appreciation club, most of the screenings, almost 80%, will be in languages except english/hindi.
And though it just might be my opinion, I feel the experience though painful, is rewarding at the end. I cant explain the feeling when you crack a film even in the face of not understanding a word of it. Though mostly we get subtitled films, sometimes even that becomes a impossibility.
Again, a personal opinion, but I feel that watching some ‘other’ language classics is absolutely essential. How can one survive without watching Ray, Kurosawa, Godard, Tarkovsky…..
Yes Thanmathra is the same. And, both the movies are available on DVD with subtitles.:)
I can’t imagine *not* watching films in a language I don’t understand.
Yes, subtitles suck, and I have written about it here and elsewhere. There is nothing worse than showing friends movies in Spanish or French and having to point out where the subtitles failed (my favourite example is the subtitles in Jamon, Jamon, the most powerful line in the movie loses all its power due to bad subtitles). I am learning to understand Hindi, and it is just good enough that I know when the subtitles are bad.
While cultures differ worldwide, basic human emotions and motivations are the same everywhere, and you don’t need accurate subtitles to understand the basic premise of a movie - not to say it wouldn’t make the experience more enjoyable.
But, even if I may have missed some of the finer points of a movie like Gabbeh (for example) - a Persian film and one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen - because I don’t speak Farsi, it in no way is uncomfortable to watch it, nor does my lack of understanding the language take away from the premise of the story. And, even without subtitles, a movie such as this would still be powerful to watch as the cinematography is amazing, the use of colour and symbolism extraordinary, the relationships universal. And, this is only one example of the many, many films I am in love with made in languages I don’t understand but that stay with me because the film itself was beautiful.
And, how much time have I spent asking my friends from other countries and cultures to explain the scenes or themes that I didn’t understand to me? Spending time in the library and spending money on Amazon.com to learn more about the cultures and ideas that I was unfamiliar with until they were presented to me on a movie screen? Nothing that stirs up so much curiosity and and a sense of wonder in me could at the same time make me uncomfortable….
It would be great if reviews can explore* more of the movie than just telling the story.
* - anything from the movie which we can learn,appreciate,be enriched.
No offence meant,just my 2 cents.
(a-ha I can rap 8->)
@HG - The answer is PassionForCinema.Seriously.
Nice one, Punds. I kind of agree with you: the language of cinema is universal.
HG, I enjoy watching films in languages I don’t understand provided they’ve got subtitles. After a few ones you get used to it. Even if the subtitles are not 100% right, you will be able to see if the acting is good or not, if the film is worth watching or not. Each time I enjoy them more. I think it is a good way to get used to different cultures when you cannot travel, for example. I also think it can give you an open mind. And I like listening the sound of different languages, soundtracks, etc.
In the last few days I have seen films from Iran, Egypt, France, Hungary, Japan, Argentina, Spain, India, Turky… at a film festival. Some better than others, but it is always a great experience indeed. :-)
Maybe one day? ;-)
thank you guys for replying me in depth. i kind of get what all you are saying. however, for me watching movies in alien languages is like watching a still movie. maybe like you all said after watching a quite of them i will start feeling more comfortable.