Director and Writer: Blessy
Based on: Aadujeevitham by Benyamin (Malayalam novel)
Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Amala Paul
Duration: 172 minutes
Available in: Theatres
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No other recent Malayalam film has been able to generate the sort of pre-release momentum that this Prithviraj Sukumaran film has managed to rake in with its complicated fourteen-year production history. The film, based on Benyamin’s epic novel of the same name, is surely worth the wait. Blessy’s iteration of the novel is a meticulously designed survival film that respects the source material and its real-life hero, while also featuring the director’s own interpretations of the story.
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The film follows the life of an immigrant worker stuck in a goat farm in the Middle East with no place to turn to but himself. Aadujeevitham captures the subjective experience of a hellish survival story with nuance and grace and rises above the literary text to deliver an emotional punch, that thankfully does not trade in melodramatic gestures.