The days of Blessy, Prithviraj and the rest of the team working in the Jordanian desert for Najeeb's life... a film that has been eagerly awaited by the audience ever since the release date was announced. Directed by Blessy with Prithviraj in the lead role, Aadujeevatham. A day after the release of the film, the film is getting a good response from the audience.
Goat life begins in 2008. Filming in 2018 after years of preparations. It will be completed in 2023. If Blesi made the story of the goat life of 'Benyaam', who is running as a bestseller before and after the movie, Benjamin got this from Najib. This is the story of Najib, who has lost his life and his life in the wilderness, lost all the loopholes to get out, his body was exhausted and he could not even dream of the life ahead, and he came out of the 'goat life' full of helplessness and pain.
A man lives for years herding sheep in the desert where the dust storms and the heat rises. His suffering brings him to this desert. There is a scene where Najib finally becomes one of them, working in the burning desert and living with the sheep. Najeeb's life will fill the eyes of the audience as it brings the reader and the viewer to the peak of emotion. We can also see the goats' wada frozen theater hall in Masara (goat and camel rearing centers in Arab countries).
Life in exile was hell for Najib. The condition of living with no income, no health, no water or adequate food, and no connection with family members despite hard work is terrifying. At the end of the movie, when it is repeatedly said in the movie and the book that 'the life we have not experienced is just a myth', it is really communicated with the audience.
Every phase of Najib's life and mental and physical conditions are accurately depicted in the picture. Prithviraj and the crew have worked hard to bring Najeeb's multi-layered life to the screen. And it almost succeeded. Both Benjamin's novel and Blessy's film tell Najib's story in different ways.
Najib has an emotional arc that has passed three or four years. That is what Blessy is trying to convey through the film. Najib finally escaped after suffering. But Hakeem... Along with Najib, Hakeem Gokul, who was with Najib, is one person who should be mentioned. After watching the movie, Hakeem becomes a whinger in the mind. Gokul, whose eyes filled with tears even from Najeeb when he walked without giving up the last hope after toiling in the heat and thirst of the desert and finally fell without his body, surely deserves a round of applause. Along with Prithviraj, Gokul has also undergone body modifications. It has been worked for many years. Have been waiting. Has been starving. Those three or four years are training them to be like a sheep that obeys instead of trying to resist. Jimmy G Lewis aka Ibrahim Qadiri, who joins them halfway through the film, is also a character worth mentioning.
When talking about Najeeb, Prithviraj's face will come to mind. Prithviraj has brought the life experienced by Najeeb to the screen. When Prithviraj conveys the variations in dialogue, words, looks and looks so beautifully, even the art, make-up and clothes behind it are of great importance.
Along with Najib, the audience also experiences the changes that happen to the body when water is not available. The audience also gets to know Najib's pain as he goes through his various stages from getting off the plane with hope, his arrival at Masara, and from then to his escape. The close-up shots capture Najib perfectly. It must be said that those who ran after Najib and Hakeem, exhausted by the desert heat and running for water after seeing mirages, all their efforts paid off.
The scenes showing Najib's past life are a bit more dramatic. It doesn't affect the movie much, but it does create a little beauty. The second half scored more than the first half. Goats are Najib's main companions in the desert. But goats don't often become characters and some songs don't connect emotionally.
Watching the story of Najeeb, a Malayali youth who came with big dreams and was eventually cheated and forced to work as a slave for three to four years in a desert goat farm, the audience like Najeeb gets frozen. Not all expat life is full of misery. It should also be remembered that many expatriates are living this kind of life without knowing it. But there is hope that Najib offers. How many more unknown Najibs will there be among us. Yes, all the life we don't experience is just fiction for us.