Aadujeevitham-The Goat Life (2024)
| Movie | : | Aadujeevitham-The Goat Life |
| Director | : | Blessy |
| Starring | : | Prithviraj Sukumaran , Amala Paul And More |
| Genres | : | Drama, Adventure, Survival |
| Editing | : | Sreekar Prasad |
| Rating | : | 8.7/10 |
| Release Date | : | 28 March 2024 |
Synopsis
The Goat Life movie tells the story of Najeeb, a young man from Kerala who moves to Saudi Arabia in search of better opportunities, where he is forced into slavery.
Aadujeevitham-The Goat Life 2024 Malayalam Movie : Critique
Plus Points (+)
If you watched The Kerala Story movie, which was released in 2023, you can easily relate to Najeeb’s situation in Saudi Arabia. In The Kerala Story, Shalini Unnikrishnan becomes a victim of extremist Muslims who manipulated and forced her to join the Islamic State. Similarly, in Najeeb’s story, he is forced into slavery as a goatherd on a secluded farm by Kafeel. Both movies are based on true stories, which makes them more compelling.
Back to the topic, the first half of the movie combines romance between Najeeb and Sainu, where A. R. Rahman's music plays an important role, and the friendship between Najeeb and Hakim. There are very few movies based on real incidents or stories, and Aadujeevitham - The Goat Life is one of them. The movie depicts the harsh life of Najeeb and Hakim in Saudi Arabia and their escape across the desert, creating a gripping climax.
First, I appreciate the hard work of Director Blessy and his team for making this type of movie, which shows the struggle of a common person ("Najeeb") abroad. Another plus point of The Goat Life film is that it is available in many languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. The Goat Life is an adaptation of Benyamin’s best-selling Malayalam novel Aadujeevitham, published in 2008.
Prithviraj Sukumaran, who is the lead actor playing the role of Najeeb, delivers a wonderful and impactful performance. He is very hardworking in real life. In the second half of the movie, he lost almost 31 kgs in a few months to portray the role of a slave goatherd on a secluded farm in Saudi Arabia. In a recent interview with the Indian Express, he said, “One thing that I am very proud of, and the whole crew is very proud of, is that through all these obstacles, all these challenges, I don’t think there has been a single moment of compromise in this film."
In the first half of the movie, his performance is average, filled with drama and a bit of romance, where we see Najeeb and his wife Sainu together for a short period. But in the second half of the movie, he appears in a terrifying look, and his hopeful dialogues grab the audience’s attention, creating suspense about what happens next.
Amala Paul, who is the lead actress playing the role of Sainu (Najeeb’s wife), looks very beautiful in the first half. Her innocent eyes and sweet dialogues add a touch of romance to the movie. On the other hand, Shoba Mohan, as Ummah (Najeeb’s mother), has very little screen time, but her pure love for her son adds a bit of emotion to the second half.
Minus Points (-)
The biggest minus point of the movie is its duration (3 hours) without any action, no romance, only drama. Most of the conversations happen in Arabic and aren’t always translated into Hindi or other languages, so the audience can’t fully enjoy the movie.
Due to a bad screenplay and lack of impressive dialogues in Blessy's direction, the movie loses its core plot in the middle. If the director had added a bit of comedy in the second half, it would have been better for the movie. The second half is over-dramatic, causing the audience to lose interest. However, Prithviraj Sukumaran's acting helps the movie regain its momentum and suspense.
While A. R. Rahman is a wonderful musical composer and record producer, some of his songs in the movie aren’t impressive.
Talib's performance as Kafeel is very good in the negative role, but because most of the conversations between Talib and the other cast members are in Arabic, the audience can’t connect with Kafeel. If the director had included a translator or translated the Arabic dialogue into Hindi or Malayalam, it would have been better for the movie. In the second half, many viewers find the Arabic language irritating.
Technical Aspects
Blessy Ipe Thomas, known as Blessy, is a very popular director in the Malayalam film industry. He has directed many popular Malayalam movies like Kalimannu (2013), Pranayam (2011), and Easan (2010). Now he brings The Goat Life, a Malayalam film. The movie shooting started in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was halted. Now, the movie has finally hit the silver screen. Overall, the movie's story is very interesting, but due to its 3-hour duration and heavy drama, most viewers lose interest. Blessy’s strength is writing, and his dialogues attract many viewers to the movie.
As we know, cinematography is the most important part of a movie. Ajesh Chandran and Sunil K.S. have done a commendable job of capturing the emptiness of the desert and focusing on the Arabic people who live in this lonely desert, where mobile phones and other electronic devices stop working. In the second half of the movie, you feel like you're watching a documentary on real-life footage of sheep, goats, and thirsty camels wandering around in search of water.
The final editing was done by Sreekar Prasad, who did a neat job. However, if the editor had removed unnecessary scenes from the first half, it would have made the movie more interesting for the audience. The VFX team also did a wonderful job.
Conclusion
Aadujeevitham - The Goat Life movie is the story of Najeeb, a young man from Kerala trapped in Saudi Arabia. The first half of the movie is a bit boring and dramatic, but the second half is very interesting, with director Blessy adding elements of suspense and thriller. Overall, the second half of the movie is more engaging compared to the first half.
Performance : 4.8/5
Dialogues : 4.0/5
Comedy : 0.1/5
Story : 4.1/5
