{mosimage}If you want to see good thrillers in India, you must straightly head towards the God's Own Country. Many of the best thrillers in Indian cinema I had seen are from the stable of Malayalam cinema. 'CBI series', 'The King', Commissioner, Ekalayvyan, Pathram and many investigative movies I had seen are honest to the plot with no mundane comedy or with item girls gyrating their wet pelvic on bar or at villian's den, even though there were ample scope and sex bombs to perform them. After a lull, there came an investigation thriller 'Nadiya Kollappetta Raathri', which was novel in quite a few ways. This K. Madhu directed Suresh Gopi (who else???) flick follows the cliched path of thrillers in the characterisation, scenes as well as dialogues delivery. Still "Nadiya..." is watchable for power packed performances of Kavya Madhavan, Suresh Gopi (even though he goes quite overboard). What makes 'Nadiya..." work?
നാദിയ കൊല്ലപ്പെട്ട രാത്രി - This A.K Sajan scripted flick is said to be a blatant rip off from Agatha Christie's novel "Murder on the Orient Express (1934), but finds its novelty on Malayalam screen with three female murders on the running train on the same night, but the victims not related to each other. Chennai - Mangalore Souparnika express meets its black mark of the murder of three women passengers hailing from various walks of life - Thulasimani, a danseusse, Nadira, a National level shooter and a Shreya Mini, a TV reporter on a sting operation. Of these three cases, Nadiya is alive but had turned a vegetable with brain being dead. The police passes of the murders as a suicide, rape attempt and a robbery case. But our hero Sharfuddin from Railway Anti Criminal Task Force (RACT - Do it exist?, a novel departure from regular State police and CBI on screen) untangles the mystery behind each murders, obviously with action build ups, long soliloquies with base tone accents etc etc etc...
{mosimage}The good part of the movie is that it draws inferences to various murky activities like smuggling, encounters and even talks about mercy killing / euthanasia. Next comes the technical aspects like a near perfect art direction by Girish menon who exactly replicate the interiors of a 1st class AC coach and intricate camera work by veteran Ananda Kuttan (A Fazil regular) who is limited by the space constraints inside a rail coach. Also the best performances by Kavya Madhavan, who steals the show as twin sisters - Nadiya & Nadira, Suresh Gopi who sleep walks through the role as he had done such roles million times before.
{mosimage}Now comes the worsts - The movie looks like a serious version on K. Madhu's own "No. 20, Madras Mail", which has spirited Mohanlal & Suchitra in the roles of supposed killer and the victim, along with an intresting cameo by Mamooty. Second problem with the movie is that it treads the oft beaten path of thrillers - so many characters with abnormal personalities, just to make them like suspects thus causing a lag in the screen play. Third problem is that you feel like the movie is nearing completion ever since the first case is solved in the first hour itself. You need not be the descendent of Agatha Chistie or Sherlock Homes to pin down the suspects... So filmy... However solving the title murder (Nadiya) really comes as a jolt (even though I read a hint about it sometime back)... but most of the things are told rather than being shown on screen.
I suggest you can take a look on this movie safely as it works majorly despite the shortcomings. Not only this "Nadiya..", you can watch "No. 20 Madras Mail" also as you can definitely enjoy it. Like said before the Malayalam thrillers are very honest to the plot without distractions like item numbers or even sentiment scenes.... that itself is refreshing these days... ha! ha! ha! I bought these titles "Nadiya.." and "No. 20 Madras Mail" in DVD from Moserbaer's collection for Rs. 60 & Rs. 34 respectively....
A word on Moserbaer DVD's qualities... The old title DVDs that were brought out till 6-7 months back were too bland and of poor quality. But the newer releases are of good quality (I watched in 42" LCD, still with smooth and a crisp picture), even though bit higher from initial prices and the old movies getting released now have some additional features like song / scene selection that was missing in previous releases.
{oshits} readers might be eager to unravel the mystery behind Nadiya's death...
{mosimage}The good part of the movie is that it draws inferences to various murky activities like smuggling, encounters and even talks about mercy killing / euthanasia. Next comes the technical aspects like a near perfect art direction by Girish menon who exactly replicate the interiors of a 1st class AC coach and intricate camera work by veteran Ananda Kuttan (A Fazil regular) who is limited by the space constraints inside a rail coach. Also the best performances by Kavya Madhavan, who steals the show as twin sisters - Nadiya & Nadira, Suresh Gopi who sleep walks through the role as he had done such roles million times before.
{mosimage}Now comes the worsts - The movie looks like a serious version on K. Madhu's own "No. 20, Madras Mail", which has spirited Mohanlal & Suchitra in the roles of supposed killer and the victim, along with an intresting cameo by Mamooty. Second problem with the movie is that it treads the oft beaten path of thrillers - so many characters with abnormal personalities, just to make them like suspects thus causing a lag in the screen play. Third problem is that you feel like the movie is nearing completion ever since the first case is solved in the first hour itself. You need not be the descendent of Agatha Chistie or Sherlock Homes to pin down the suspects... So filmy... However solving the title murder (Nadiya) really comes as a jolt (even though I read a hint about it sometime back)... but most of the things are told rather than being shown on screen.
I suggest you can take a look on this movie safely as it works majorly despite the shortcomings. Not only this "Nadiya..", you can watch "No. 20 Madras Mail" also as you can definitely enjoy it. Like said before the Malayalam thrillers are very honest to the plot without distractions like item numbers or even sentiment scenes.... that itself is refreshing these days... ha! ha! ha! I bought these titles "Nadiya.." and "No. 20 Madras Mail" in DVD from Moserbaer's collection for Rs. 60 & Rs. 34 respectively....
A word on Moserbaer DVD's qualities... The old title DVDs that were brought out till 6-7 months back were too bland and of poor quality. But the newer releases are of good quality (I watched in 42" LCD, still with smooth and a crisp picture), even though bit higher from initial prices and the old movies getting released now have some additional features like song / scene selection that was missing in previous releases.
{oshits} readers might be eager to unravel the mystery behind Nadiya's death...
