User reviews

On a return bus trip from a holy Christian shrine, a group of Malayalees doze off to discover midway that the cantankerous group leader has stopped the bus and walked off nonchalantly into a remote Tamil village to assume the life of a simple milkman. The Tamil family into whom he imposes his presence have barely recovered from the mysterious loss of their son and husband two years prior. The villagers are bewildered by this imposter who looks nothing like him but who acts to all intents and purposes like the deceased, a factor which is beguiling and unsettling. The daughter and brother of the deceased are incensed by the arrival of the interloper whilst the aged, blind mother affectionately accepts him without question.

As confusion reigns, it is left to the the father of the deceased to prevail upon the odd circumstances with kindness and empathy whilst marshalling the villagers into caring for the traumatised family of the imposter. The two wives caught up in this drama are linked by a shared trauma, the Malayalee wife dealing with the sudden inexplicable loss of her husband's personality and the deceased man's wife with a closure that has been cruelly disrupted.

Theni Eswar's thoughtful cinematography is a centrepiece of the artful direction of this movie - a homage to the acclaimed Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray with its carefully framed snippets of the chief protagonist's intrusion into the unhurried pace and bucolic lifestyle of a remote village in Tamil Nadu. The dreamlike theme developed by director Lijo Jose Pallissery might well be an allegory of life (waking to consciousness) and death (falling asleep) and how faithfully we hold the roles dictated by family, society and culture on life's ephemeral stage. A rare delight to soak in.

Director Lijo Jose Pellissery is always searching for a variety of plots and themes for his next ventures. All of his films differ from each other in that path. His latest one, Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam was screened in the 2022 IFFK and receives wonderful acclamations. Now the film is out in theatres and is wrapped with positive responses. Veteran actor Mammootty's production banner's first production venture was Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam. But the film that came out for the first time through Mammootty Kampany in theaters was Rorschach. Likewise, the title of the film talks about the nap. The nap of a theatre artist named James and the routine of a local Tamilian named Sundaram was the element in the film. The structure of the script lies in the category of Magical realism. We had seen that kind of writing pattern in his previous film, Churuli. We can tie this film into the perspective of a character dimension contrast. While James taking a nap and awake as Sundaram and Sundaram taking a nap and awake back to James was the exact idea behind the film. The period between those two naps was the subject of the film. When we examine the film in detail we find that kind of confusing and somehow ambiguous underlying plot which is like a dream or a thing that is going to happen. There lies the open-end description of the film. The frames are like wallpaper because the shots are static which smoothly allows James to incarnate Sundaram. The ambient sounds like old film dialogues, devotional songs from the temple, radio songs, etc played a wonderful job to enhance the movie. All actors justified their characters the most. Lijo spends a lot of effort to find new faces for his characters and here also we can find strange faces. But it's quite unbelievable that a familiar face doing strange things throughout the film and that was Mammootty, who portrays both James and Sundaram. Yet another Lijo magic that feels like a nap done by James and others which fell us into a deep sleep encircled with a beautiful dream. And that dream is Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam.

This movie is not for everyone. This is an excellent sleeping pill for those who like violence,gunfires, crime, thrill and suspense. Such people stay away from this movie unless you are suffering from sleep deprivation.

This movie is intended for a calm and serene population.

My personal opinion: I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The peaceful environment which is maintained throughout the movie put me through a trance state. The sound design was excellent. Its essential to get rid of violence, terror and nauseating love stories and to discover the beauty of peace and tranquility. It's a very soothing and refreshing experience.

LJP and team delivered it again.

The movie is visual poetry, from cinematography to acting to the beautiful tamil songs woven into the narrative, this movie is a wondrous delight for any aesthete.

Its a pleasure to see Mammootty sir at full throttle accompanied by a stellar supporting cast.

LJP is an auteur par excellence who is trying to engage the audience with an exploration into society, identity and its fickleness. This odyssey into the human mind is brilliantly supported by Theni Eswar who has clearly upped his game here, the unsymmetrical static shots with multiple activities in a single frame give this movie an ethereal feel.

Personally it still doesn't make sense to me why this movie was not given the Golden Pheasant at IFFK. This was more brilliant than the exploration of climate change and cultural identity done within Utama.

Overall a brilliant cinematic experience.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is made in a super abstract way with a truly unique atmosphere. A more audience friendly approach could would have worked better. I did not love it. Also, most of it is in Tamil. I might have to rewatch a subtitled version.

It was definitely an interesting and entertaining story. Mammoty was quite good. But I do not know why people are praising the performance to the skies. I did not care much for the treatment either. Static frames that people are raving about took away a lot of the tension from the scenes. Cacophonic songs and conversations from old Tamil movies constantly playing in the village as a part of everyday life was annoying. As expected, S Hareesh fails to turn up as dialog writer. The same was the case with Jallikattu and Churuli. Hareesh simply cannot come up with interesting dialog.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is worth a watch. But wayyy overrated. I might watch it again. It is not a bad film. The problem is that Lijo fails to milk interesting characters, locales and situations to their full potential because he is too busy being arty farty. As I said early in the review, a more commercial approach could have done wonders to the film. Lijo says he has evolved in an interview. Well, he has evolved into a total phoney. Hahahahaha! I long for the Lijo of the Angamaly Diaries and Ee Maa Yau days.

What more to tell about this man. Running out of superlatives to describe what he is upto in NNM. Just makes us go awww while he switched between James & Sundaram

Watch out for that bit where he behaves as Sundaram to Jame's relatives. Out of the world🙏 #NanpakalNerathuMayakkam

#NanpakalNerathuMayakkam What happens when James dozes off & wakes up as Sundaram & travels through his life for a day before he goes back to the world of James.

Something only Lijo can pull off & boy hasn't he done just that. Nothing complex this time. Absolute mastery by LJP🙏

Mammootty , LEGENDARY ACTING 🔥⭐⭐⭐ State Awards - It's not even a question or a discussion

National Awards - Only looking forward to that.

It was indeed a Mammootty show completely. Inspired by an old ad, the premise is about James who is on a family trip to Velankanni church. On their way back, the bus stops at a village, only to James wake up and start behaving like a Tamilian from that village, Sundaram. The story focuses on how James spends the day as Sundaram while the people around are baffled at his mental state.

The good thing is the screenplay doesn't bother to have any subplots for any characters. It just revolves around this one day of James as Sundaram and like the supporting cast, everyone is turned into a spectator. It is Mammotty's portrayal of minute details that differentiate both the characters elevates the scenes especially in the final act when he realises that nobody recognizes him and that moment where he is shocked by the changes in the village which he himself doesn't recognize. It was indeed heartening to see the Megastar opt to produce and act in the movie.

Unbelievable is the first word comes to my mind for what is achieved through this masterpiece. I am a non Malayali or Tamil speaking person and watched it in hindi. I loved the way the director unfolds this perfect movie.

This has an Oscar deserving Direction and sound design at the display. Something that you might have never experienced even if you are a Hitchcock or Kurosawa fan.

The metaphor of sleep as rebirth is apt. The acting is nearly perfect and the chaos is masterful. Its a drama par excellence reaching to the level of meditative experience.

Story: 9/10 The layered story with perfect execution. One star deducted for relying on the background sounds for understanding the context.

Screenplay: 10/10 It's as perfect as it is humanly possible.

Direction: 10/10 This is the first movie I watched from this masterful director and I am going to watch all of his work.

Sound: 10/10 So much to take in, the use of TV sounds and movie's context for an North indian is a great initiation to malyali and tamil cinema.

Art Direction:10/10 It's perfect, perfect and perfect.

Acting: 10/10.

Mammotty achieved something unimaginable for all other great actor of our time. At the age of 70 years this is art at its best. He deserves all accolades.

Do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece and you will forget that bollywood garbage forever.

Simply put, "Brillant." The plot of this movie is completely original and has never been seen before. Especially the narrative, which leaves us perplexed just like every other character in the film does. Mammooty's performance was the film's standout point. It was outstanding and for the first time in a very long time, it felt like he was acting had such life. I especially enjoyed him in the bar scene. Each of the characters did an outstanding job. I noticed that things move quite slowly. Which kind of majority folks might pause midway. But the film's ending makes it all worthwhile. The management of emotion was excellent. Do not miss this film.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023): Brief Review -

Pathbreaking & Unique but terribly slow. Mammootty comes to the rescue in this strained drama. Lijo Jose Pellissery's "Ee. Ma. Yau" (2018) left me speechless. Found "Jakikattu" (2019) and "Churuli" (2020) good, but overhyped. Angamaly Diaries will be seen soon. So, for me, the only great work of his was RIP, hence I was looking forward to Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam because it was bringing the promising director and an all-time legend, Mammootty, together. The collaboration is pretty good but not quite worthy. I should clarify that this film might work differently for Malayalam and Tamil audiences due to the cultural merger and commentary, which is quite irritating to others. I have seen a lot of Malayalam and Tamil cinema, yet I couldn't connect to the said merger. The film has more background commentary and old songs than actual dialogue in the front. That's something new, but it causes a dragging cinematic experience. The dual personality is executed artistically with a subtle use of the camera, but believe me, hardly one fourth of the audience will be able to understand that. A group of Malayali travellers returning to Kerala by bus after their visit to Velankanni dozes off in a lazy nap. When James stops the bus in a village in Tamil Nadu, Sundaram behaves like him and confuses them. He walks amidst faith, delusion, dreams, and trance. A complex script with a stodgy screenplay is never supposed to keep you hooked and on the edge of your seat. NNM is a slow poison. It might grow on you after the ending, when things are clear but still a bit unclear. God has sent Mammootty on earth only to act, and he is there to do it until his last breath. How on earth does this man still give such a rock-solid performance? Lijo attempts another pathbreaking film, but it is another tedious watch. RIP might just remain his best work forever. I hope not.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

An interesting plotline, but was made ridiculously slow to a point where it abosultely pissed me off and I was fuming in anger that they could waste my time like this showing long scenes, extremeley slow and not adding any value to the movie. This was not just my opinion, all of my family members who watched the movie separately felt the same and who were not influenced by each other's reviews.

At first I thought its good that they have made a movie only for 1 hr 40 mins, probably made it short and crisp instead of dragging a story for 3 hours long. But turns out, the story is only worth 30 mins of your time, which was dragged to 1h 40m with a dragging screenplay.

Even if you survived till the end of the movie, it does give a proper ending or explanation, I totally felt foolish having wasted my time and bearing through this extemely slow paced movie.

I appreciate good movies, slow movies, art movies, etc. But the slow scenes should add some meaning to the movie. This movie did not do that for me.

I do not recommend this movie at all, it does not deserve any views for the way it has been made.

Brilliantly capture piece of art work from master director LJP. One man show of mammootty made the movie on another level. Definitely a theater watch recommended. Transformation of james & sundaram brilliantly taken. Greatest of all time 👌

Technical side of the movie is another great positive especially the cinematography by theni eswar, more of static shots beauty of the rural areas are simply captured into the movie. The movie has no any special music or music director a experiment from ljp, he used most of the dialogues,songs from renowned tamil movies for using as bg of scenes.

Don't miss in theaters.

Long awaited combo LJP and Mamooty was definitely worth the wait.

The unexpected twist not only confused the character in the story but also the viewers.

Totally different style of making followed by LJP adds on to uniquifing the film.

The story blended in well the cultural values of societies which made me like the film more.

Even though every character had got a defined role, the character done by Mamooty excels in all the aspects of protrayal.

Short and well written script along with nicely blended in music and sound design.

As in all LJP's movies certain questions are unanswered and completely left to the viewers for further interpretation.

RATED 7/10 Language: Malayalam Source: Netflix

The movie is bit slow and ends with lot of open questions. Just get into the journey to enjoy the classical making and acting. Thats all...

The hard work of director and actor is seen in each and every scene. Both brought the village man and his lifestyle as it is in the screen. The story is dealing with some super natural/bipolar concept and didn't get into the reason much.

The Tamil songs and TV movie dialogs adds more flavour to the situations. The situation is so original and the execution is flawless and realistic. Mammootty shines like gem, especially in the second half, where he had lunch and barber shop scenes.

The plot is about a malayali tourist group that got stuck in a Tamil Village and the chaos that ensues.

The narrative is brilliant and meta. The audience are also one of the characters in this movie. The plot starts with the man asking everyone to come and ends with "let's go".

The themes of society, acceptance and isolation are brilliantly captured and performed by Mammooty. Ultimately, you cannot lead a life you want if there is no support.

The concept of 2 lives repeats throughout the movie with old songs and dialogues accompanying every scene. Applause to the casting team for a perfect Tamil casting!!

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (NNM) - A mid-day slumber.

A protagonist in a TV playing in the background of a scene mentions about how he has seen art created across Los Angeles and Naples by apple colored people. Lijo and Mammootty does it incredibly well in the sepia colored movie.

It explores the same identity themes with parallels across Vanaprastham and Kutty Srank. The former deals with the identity crisis between the artist (played by Mohanlal) and his art. The latter deals more with exploration of an individual identity through the eyes of the 3 women in his (Mammootty's) life. NNM explores almost a kafkaesque metamorphosis of its lead protagonist across identities - all the while asking the age old vedic question of "who are you". Dehina asmin dehe - in this body there is the resident of the body. Anything more will be a spoiler.

NNM brings a different identity for Lijo also. From wide angle action and chaos to excruciatingly crafted and composed stills and sleepy slumber in shots.

NNM is easily a milestone in Malayalam (or is it Tamil) movie history.

You will learn what is - "testing the patience" mean when you watch this movie. Rating is pretty good and mammooti, story line is interesting but was not a friday night movie. May be you need to be in a mood to watch such movie.

Very interesting camera. Camera on the other end of the corridor of a hotel. Some one comes and wakes up each of them. Camera captures knocking all 6-8 doors. Wow ....

only realized after a friend told me, there is no background score. No BGM at all. Just to consciously watch it, i am thinking will watch it again.

Don't take me wrong, not a bad movie but need some extra movie love to watch it 😂

A well written script combined with LJP effect supported by brilliant realistic performances of all the actors plus the cinematography which made every frame like a painting and an outstanding performance by Mammootty will take you on a ride of unique experience.

The movie has been made in a minimalistic style like a Robert Bresson film, so don't expect any thrills or fights World class movie making from the team Hope the movie gets what it deserves in the years to come in.

And last but not the least the movie has paid a homage to lot of tamil films and songs in a very interesting way through the soundscape of the film which made it very realistic.

Way to go Malayalam Cinema. ✨ 💚

I get what the director was trying to convey with the story but he just went overboard trying to be too artsy, boring and pushing on the edges of frustrating. He tries to leave the audience confused with the ending suggesting that they make you their own mind about what really happened. In reality nothing really happened and you wish you watching this movie was just a dream and you dint really spend all that time watching this movie. Sometimes being too creative has its downsides. If you have to try and confuse your audience so much then perhaps you did not have clarity in your mind to begin with. The movie is extremely slow to the extent that you are glad it's on OTT as you can forward a few scenes just to get through the movie.

The movie is a mish mash of various concepts, treading on various themes including spirituality, reality and the supernatural but fails to do justice to any of them. It's like the director wanted to cover it all in one movie instead of treating each concept as a separate movie. Perhaps he didn't have the patience to make so many movies.

Overall a big let down. Making simple things more complex unnecessarily does not show creativity, instead it shows the lack of it.

Watch if you have nothing better to do.

One of the best movie I have watched. Brilliant work. Awesome cinematography. Mammoty's acting is next level.. all other actors are also done well. Lijo's work was fantabulous.. it's mic of comedy emotions etc.. the script has done in a different way. All together this movie is gonna be one of the best movie in 2023. The movie will get nominated in all award category.. by seeing the trailer don't think tht it's a documentary type of movie.. this has all the elements in it.. no lagging scenes.. people will definitely enjoy the movie.. super script. Cinematography, actors are too good. Worth watch.

LIJO is probably now on his next trilogy of abstract background cues and identity fluidity. What a wonderful trip this movie is, it's almost perfect. The fabulous background music and the religious and cultural exploration that this malayalee Christian pilgrimage landing in a largely Hindu village in TN is simply a joy. The movie is framed with such thought, it's simply captivating, every shot is filled with quiet intensity and anticipation. Mamooty delivers one of his best performances as the protagonist, very subtle and intense at the same time.

I watched this movie alone in a theatre and now think that's the best way to do this, helped me just soak it up.