sushmita@khaleejtimes.com Filed on June 9, 2021
The critically-acclaimed Malayalam film Nayattu is a raw, gritty thriller with political underpinnings, set amid the backdrop of a caste conflict
I don’t understand Malayalam, so I must have missed many nuances embedded in Nayattu which, in English, translates to The Hunt. But even with the disadvantage of an unintelligible language (there are obviously sub-titles), this is one of the finest Indian films I’ve watched in my life. It has the unglossy starkness of a Sairat, with the pitch-perfect art direction of Django Unchained, and an unflinching cast that delivers on every score.
KERALA: At a time when police highhandedness, use of excessive force and collusion between lawmakers and lawkeepers has come under scrutiny in the US, India and other parts of the world, Malayalam political thriller Nayattu enters the fray with a story in which the ''hunter becomes the hunted''. It also examines the twin themes of truth and justice and how these notions get
Express News Service
After Midhun Manuel Thomas, Nayattu finds another filmmaker moving away from light-hearted entertainers to something more grounded, cynical and brutal.
After the crowd-pleasing Charlie, Martin Prakkat has teamed up with Shahi Kabir, the screenwriter whose maiden effort Joseph became a runaway hit. Shahi has conjured up something more haunting this time around. Nayattu is a soul-stirring film that leaves you shaken by the time the end credits roll.
Martin and Shahi don’t take long to get the ball rolling, and when they do, they do a fantastic job. The central conflict involves the death of a young Dalit man, and it’s a problem increasingly complicated by the events preceding it.
A still from ‘Nayattu’
Director Martin Prakkat chooses a darker mood, which sits well with the hopelessness that pervades the film
Early on in ‘Nayattu’, we see police officer Maniyan (Joju George) reluctantly manufacturing evidence against someone, following orders from a prominent politician. By the practiced ease with which he goes about this act, we know that this is not the first time he is doing it, neither would it be the last. “Even goons have the freedom to not take up quotations they don’t want to. The police do not have that freedom,” he tells rookie police officer Praveen Michael (Kunchakko Boban), revealing his helplessness.