AaduJeevitham Review (2024)

Aadujeevitham is difficult to criticize cos the normal audience, who are arguably moved by it, will shut u down with the simple fact that it got into production 16 years ago. It happens when the audience is very attached to a film, which is ofc the good thing about social media.

But the thing is that, ultimately, Aadujeevitham is a film, which rather than standing as a document that depicts the trials and tribulations of Najeeb, stands as a document of the stark difference between, literature and cinema.

The difference between the image and the word, is the fact that, eventhough the photographic image can easily show you information at a simple glance, words with its deceptive nature, easily convey to you, both the external toughness and internal turmoil of man. Here is the major problem of Aadujeevitham.

There is a great deal of focus on Najeeb’s external pain, the physical deformation that he undergoes, visibly and even in un-seeable places, but nowhere do we get the internal pain of how he feels and what he feels. When we see that he is about to escape the hellish desert, we see him say goodbye to the goats and camels. But the moment is the first time that we even see him bond with them. chronologically, and tragically (for us), it is the last time he is going to be with them. Thus, we only see, but not feel, what he is undergoing.

I haven’t read the book, but have heard about how it captured Najeeb’s internal emotions. For example, we get a moment in the first half where, Najeeb expresses his anger at God, saying he cannot exist, for the real God wouldn’t have pushed into this misery. This could have been an interesting tangent, only to be left apart and abandoned, when we see him performing Namaaz, some other time in the film while escaping. We never see, how this ordeal affected Najeeb internally. All we see are external blisters.

In the beginning sections, there is far too much cutting to the flashback and Najeeb being sad, that it seems quite repetitive. Yes, it could very well be said that, the repetitiveness could be present to make us feel that we are in Najeeb’s shoes. However, here it doesn’t involve us further in the story, rather only makes us feel withdrawn from it. There is also a bit of a time jump, as we see him grow into a very bearded and long haired Najeeb. This decision to me was surprising as we have now effectively broken the single important thing, that could have personally invested us in Najeeb’s story. We could have seen, how he began to warm up to the goats, camels, the desert, sand, wind etc, but we see/feel none of that.

Prithiviraj’s performance is definitely one of the things that keeps us invested in the film, holding it remarkably well. The actors playing, Hakim and Qadri, are also quite good. The cinematography is good. We get some really beautiful wide shots, showcasing the beautiful sunsets and nights. The random cuts to the flashbacks, add the sense of contrast visually, in in terms of how cool it is, and also by showcasing Najeeb being involved in water related situations. The first shows him going underwater. The second flash shows him in rain. The third is again being underwater with his wife. The fourth is when he is leaving town, again when it is raining.

But the problem is that none of this actually, emotionally affects you. It wasn’t surprising to me that, some people were even laughing during some sequences of emotio