Spoilers ahead…
It’s a cliché by now to quote Shakespeare and say all the world’s a stage, the men and women merely players. But the film really makes us feel we are all part of a cosmic/divine plan.
The “hero entry shot” of Mammootty in Lijo Jose Pellissery’s magical new movie, Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, occurs not when he enters the frame (and the movie) – but when he is already locked in a frame. Theni Eashwar is the brilliant cinematographer, and he films the events in a series of static master-shots, turning the screen into the kind of “fixed” stage where theatre is performed. It’s a cliché by now to quote Shakespeare and say all the world’s a stage, the men and women merely players. But Lijo (working from his story, developed by S Hareesh) really makes us feel we are all part of a cosmic/divine plan. We are all locked into playing predetermined parts, over which we have no control. The static frames seem to mirror a static way of life, where everything is preordained, and there is no free will – and therefore, anything and everything can happen.
You can read the rest of the review here:
https://www.galatta.com/malayalam/movie/review/nanpakal-nerathu-mayakkam/
And you can watch the video review here:
Copyright ©2023 GALATTA.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Jay Krishnan
February 7, 2023
I so wish you had a video review as well for this !
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Senthil S
February 7, 2023
What a beautifully written review. I’ve been rereading the last few paragraphs repeatedly.
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hari prasad
February 7, 2023
Unfortunately , I have to wait for the OTT release as it’s not playing anywhere in Chennai , even in the multiplexes as I said it before..
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dwaraka r
February 7, 2023
@hari Prasad It ran for a week or so in the multiplexes I caught it last Saturday in at escape with subtitles
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hari prasad
February 7, 2023
How beautifully ironic is it to learn that Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is not playing anywhere in Tamilnadu , the state where the movie’s story happens….
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Aravindan R
February 7, 2023
Wonderful review, as always.
Watched it last week in Coimbatore among the audience of 10 people.
What a contrast between Jallikattu (from the same director) and this!
The adrenaline in Jallikattu and the calm flow of a stream in Nanpakal are polar opposites. I recalled Manikandan in your interview saying ‘you participate in kakka muttai and observe aandavan kattalai’.
The carefully composed static frames, as you’ve beautifully explained, help to observe the happenings.
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rsylviana
February 7, 2023
Such a striking review ! Makes me want to catch the film soon but I doubt I would appreciate it and like it as much as you did – Its just a personal preference because I don’t particularly care for musing, open-ended movies as the suspense would drive me nuts.
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Voldemort
February 7, 2023
Beautiful review!
Sadly, by the time I got to know about this film, it has already been taken off from the theatres. Wonder if it’s at least successful in Kerala. One would think after the widespread acclaim for Jallikatu, this film would have a successful opening week, but doesn’t look like that’s the case. Was it not marketed well or have I been living under a rock?
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Voldemort
February 7, 2023
Each time you sleep, you are reborn as a new person. Or maybe an older person – not in age, but in the sense that this person has already occupied the world’s stage earlier.
Wow, so profound!
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Anu Warrier
February 7, 2023
Lovely review, BR. Waiting for it to come on some streaming platform.
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Shankar
February 8, 2023
Baddy, glad you caught this, I know I have been pestering you since it released. I want to read your review of this SO much…but need to hold off until I get to watch this on OTT, hopefully sometime soon! My friends who were lucky to watch this were astounded by the film. It only played a few shows in the DC area…
It’s great to see Mammooty choosing his scripts wisely now, and also putting his money where his choice is, through his new production company. Hopefully we get some nice films from him…I laugh as I write this since he is a legend who has been delivering for close to 50 years now! But the fact that he is willing to look at the mirror, and evaluate his choices, speaks highly of him…I salute that!
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MANK
February 8, 2023
Mammootty produced this film himself and he went out of his way to promote this film, so there was no dearth of publicity or audience awareness. Of course, NNM is not going to work like a mass film like Bheeshma parvam, but it has got the appreciation it deserves from the audience . The film is made on a low budget (approx 4 crs. ) so OTT sales alone will recover the investments. At the age of 71 Mammookka is at the top of his game. he is mixing it up like no other superstar\super actor at this age: Puzhu, Bheeshma Parvam, Rorschach, now this … Btw LJP’s next film (Vanjikottai Valiban) is with Mohanlal, Hopefully, that will be a much needed break for Lalettan . I wish you would interview LJP Brangan. You two would be a match made in cinema heaven. I would particularly like to know about his obsession for Tamil titles.
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hari prasad
February 8, 2023
This was such a nice interview…
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Sudha
February 8, 2023
Oh, thank you. I was waiting for your review of NNM, and it didn’t disappoint. What a beautiful film!
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Jay Krishnan
February 8, 2023
Excellent, Thanks Baddy !!
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Ramprasath
February 9, 2023
Totally agree with you that timeframe of the movie shouldn’t matter.
Out of curiosity, I did some research and found out that it should be 90s or early 2000s.
Kept hearing 90s TVCs and excerpts from this serial – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_Namah_Shivay_(1997_TV_series).
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m
February 9, 2023
I would like to thank parvathy thiruvothu for all the high quality films mammootty is acting in ,these days. While everyone else was busy vilifying and cyber bullying parvathy for pointing out the misogyny in mamm0tty’s kasaba, I think he took her criticism to heart and decided to change the way he is choosing the films he stars in.
I think it was such a genius move from his side to costar with parvathy in puzhu , a film that dealt with a lot of issues his previous movies had glorified. Puzhu almost felt like a public apology from his side for all the patriarchal, sexist films he has acted in the past. It is amazing that he is willing to change his outlook on things and keep up with the times in his ’70’s.
I also think that he is having fun starring in diverse kind of movies now that his son is doing well in films, and he doesn’t have anything left to prove to anyone. Also kudos to the audience who are very receptive of the different films that he stars in.
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Aman Basha
February 9, 2023
@MANK: I think it got lost in the Pathaan thread, but Mammootty was the epitome of coolth in Bheeshma Parvam. Just the sheer swagger Amal Neerad brought out of him elevated the movie for me, despite its obvious Godfather ripoff story (and the way he merges Bheeshma and Michael Corleone). Even Rorschach was a very disturbing performance. Mammooty is frontrunner for the National Award this year IMO. Let’s see how they mess it up this time.
I recently saw his telugu film with K Vishwanath, Swathi Kiranam, which plays like a nightmare Amadeus version of Sankarabharanam. Apart from his impressive telugu diction (though he didn’t completely shake off the accent). He exudes arrogance, envy and paranoia with the slightest change of expression. Here, Vishwanath has SPB as Mammootty’s voice while he gets Vani Jairam to be the voice of the prodigy boy. Very impressive, how he’s going at 71. Even Dulquer is one of the most popular South Indian actors, despite not having a pan Indian blockbuster.
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hari prasad
February 19, 2023
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Enna koduka sir pera
February 19, 2023
Cannot wait to watch it on ott!
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Honest Raj
February 19, 2023
… I think he took her criticism to heart and decided to change the way he is choosing the films he stars in.
He’s been doing experimental roles from time to time for ages (he’s always been a writer’s actor). In fact, a year before the controversy came up, he had Munnariyippu. Even in the 2000s, when Malayalam cinema was not in great shape, he was a part of several critically-acclaimed films (both art house and mainstream).
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Satya
February 23, 2023
The film is streaming in Netflix from today. Just a heads up to those who wished to catch it in the theatres, but were unable to. 🙂
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RK
February 23, 2023
@Aman Basha: Can you tell me the temple city where Swathi Kiranam was shot? Is it the same place where Swathi Muthyam was also shot?
The idyllic locale & Mammooty’s magisterial portrayal of evil are reasons enough to see this film. The film gives the impression that this is a very proud man who cannot utter one good word about another singer like Bilahari Marthandam Pillai in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi. But gradually we realise the man’s pettiness & deviousness and in a sense, evilness. Amidst all this, the boy’s incredible talent touches, even if he doesn’t want to. Mammooty conveys all these emotions with only small facial expressions; the character never really talks beyond a few phrases.
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Nujra
February 23, 2023
Caught it in Netflix. Wonderful experience. I wonder, why as an audience, we are able to go with the flow rather than question the logic of it all. Is it because the other characters in the movie also don’t question it too much?
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Ravi K
February 24, 2023
Loved this film. Mamootty is wonderful in it. Anyone else get an Apichatpong Weerasethakul vibe from the film? It wouldn’t surprise me if Lijo is an admirer of his.
The film takes place in early to mid 2012. In the scene with the barber, James/Sundaram asks when Mayilsami died, and the barber replies that it’s been six months since he died and points to a photo of him with a caption that says he died in 20.12.2011.
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musical v
February 24, 2023
This film can have many interpretations. Sundaram’s wife dreaming or the visually impaired lady dreaming or James himself dreaming. The bus leaving is akin to a funeral procession on its way to the final destination. James temporarily possessed? Got the vibes of Midsummer night’s dream. Summer is noon.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
February 25, 2023
My Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam review:
https://m.rediff.com/movies/review/nanpakal-nerathu-mayakkam-review/20230224.htm
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Faroo
February 25, 2023
I was wary going into the movie — There was no way the movie was going to live up to BR’s giddy review. Soon after the movie started, I realized that I wasnt the target audience for this movie. Did not work at all for me.
The loud and annoying TV in the background of most scenes was a little too on the nose. Mammotty’s Tamil had a very thick Mallu accent – even the dubbing in the Ad for GreenPly (which was quoted as an inspiration) was better.
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musical v
February 26, 2023
https://www.onmanorama.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/2023/02/26/aelay-director-halitha-shameem-nanpakal-nerathu-mayakkam-aesthetics-stolen-allegation.html
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Bala
March 26, 2023
Caught this on netflix. Wonderfyl magical realism. The scene when the daughter serves him food brought a tear.
Basically, the sundaram character died, but the family in the village didnt get any closure because they didnt know what happened. He came back in the form of james (who doesn’t look similar, there’s a dialog which says that he looks diffeferent but all mannerisms match), stays with his family for a day, and brings a closure to them and to himself.
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