Love in its purest forms.... Review on Nandanam Movie

I have been an ardent admirer of Malyalam movies since I don’t know when. Being a mallu, I have been lucky to have understood the language and equally the films. Staying away from Kerala means missing a good chunk of movies. And I never let go a chance of compensating this drawback whenever I visit Kerala.

Nandanam :

Do dreams come true ? Yes, it definitely does. This movie is about celebrations of dreams & devotion. Not rich in terms of story, but this film scores on its presentation.

Its all about a maid servant falling in love with the rich grandson of the grand old lady of the Tharavadu (the ancestral home) where she is employed to look after the lady. The story is set in a place called Guruvayoor which is the abode of Lord Krishna (Guruvayoorappan). Guruvayoor is known for the Guruvayoor temple. Her devotion to Guruvayoorappan gets her this job as she sees herself going to the temple everyday for the Nirmalyam and other poojas. Does she get to visit her Guruvayoorappan ?

So coming to the dream part, is that she falls for the rich grandson of her employer much before she actually sees him. And the time when he stands at their doorstep fully drenched in rain..makes her world go round. Does her dream come true ?

All stands to be seen to be believed. As it happens everywhere she is said to leave the house by the elders of the house and the times where she stands tough against her emotions of boundless love depicts her as the epitome of patience. Above that her non-complaining attitude even when she is shown the door and her readily accepting the fate while making her partner understand the situation makes you feel as to why the world is so harsh and ignorant towards love. Does she past the test of times ?

Talking about devotion to Lord Krishna. The scenes where she is shown talking to the Lord are so easy and real. It seems two friends are talking of which one is a chatterbox and other is a listener. She is shown sharing her sorrows, happiness, anger, love alike with the photo of the Lord in her room. Seems to be too ridiculous but the presentation and the realism shown just reduces that feeling and takes the viewer into the stride. Does her Lord show her the real path ?

Maybe the story would sound too clichéd to be believed but set up in a very mallu background, such things do happen in the rural areas of Kerala where lot of people believe in God but believe in his miracles equally. They claim to have seen miracles happen.

I say this as I get to hear a lot of them from my little cousin when I visit them. This depicts the innocence and the unconditional love which they say moves the Almighty. Maybe this stands true in the movie and also in their lives which we urbanites may never understand as we feel we are too modern to believe this. Sometimes for a change even I do undergo this feeling when I visit the 4 temples that surround my hubby’s ancestral house in Kerala and that feeling of devotion is just Godly. The last time that I visited Kerala, I remember getting tears in my eyes when I stood in front of the Shiv Temple & the Devi temple waiting for the priest to open the door to just get the glimpse. The atmosphere just influenced me..

Performances :

Bala Mani, The Maid Servant : Played by Navya Nair, She was amazing and suited the character perfectly. She was awarded the state award for her role in Nandanam. Not so great in looks but she still glowed and made the film totally hers.

Manu, The Rich Grandson : played by Prithviraj, son of a great actor Sukumaran. He looks great and performs well too. Shows a lot of promise and has the ability to become a great actor.

Kaviyoor Ponamma, The rich grandmom: She has been the ideal mother to Mohanlal, Mamooty and almost every actor/actoresses. Now she is the good old grandmom. She looks gracious and respectable. Every word that she utters delivers the emotion of love and care.

Manu’s mother : Played by Revathi, She looks beautiful and brilliant. Though she has been described as a tough going woman, who single handedly brings up Manu as she is widowed at an early age. As the movie progresses her character is shown to be too feeble to stand up to the aggressions of the fellow characters. But she still shines in her role.

Music :

Melodious music by Ravindran. Each and every song is a gem in itself. The album is a mixture of classical, romantic and devotional songs. The devotional songs are sung beautifully by Chitra. It soothes your innerself. Even the romantic ones sung by Sujatha and M.G. Sreekumar are hummable ones. K.J.Yesudas’s classical ones are a delight to the ones who has a taste with classical music. But my personal favourites are the devotional ones sung in the praise of Lord Krishna which are : (Don’t ask me the meaning, as my mallu is not so strong)

‘Karmuggil Varnande Chundil….’ & “Mauliyil Mailpeeli Charthi…”

So, believe in your Lord and believe in your dreams as well.