'Aadujeevitham- The Goat Life' Movie Review - Malayalam (2024)

Movie: Aadujeevitham- The Goat Life (2024)

Director & Production: Blessy

Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Jimmy Jean-Louis, K. R. Gokul & Others

Music: A. R. Rahman

Editor: A. Sreekar Prasad

Cinematography: Sunil K. S

Language: Malayalam

Rating: 'A'- Adult Content & Nudity

Release Date: 28/03/2024

3.5/5

Rugged As You Watch, Poignant Is The Experience

01. All about Aadujeevitham- The Goat Life.

Aadujeevitham is an exclusive survival drama of an innocent immigrant Najeeb Muhammad (Prithviraj) in the deserts of Saudi along with his company Hakim (KR Gokul) who flew to the place to make a better living. This film is based on the novel titled as the same. Blessy brings in a raw & moving content towards the audience which evokes a feeling of distress & poignance. 

Coming to the plot- it is basically when Najeeb decides/ is persuaded to move to Saudi to make a better living hailing from a small village in Kerala along with his family friend Hakim . But, whereupon aftermath reaching the place both of them struggle to communicate with the locals as they are only fluent in one language, i.e., Malayalam. Here the story takes a turn as both Najeeb & Hakim are promised by the consultation agents in India that they would be placed in an factory/industry for work & can live in better situations, but these two without knowing their employer are stranded at the airport helplessly. Then comes in Khafeel (Talib Al Balushi) who's a Arab with few goats & wants foreign men to be put in slavery in his goat farm to serve the both(goat & the boss). He mistakenly thinks these are the two guys come to serve him & takes them with him & they too innocently follow him.

After a long tedious journey both of the friends are separated & are introduced to their new- horrible lives of slavery. Khafeel tortures Najeeb with his actions & words for not serving the goat & him. Najeeb is introduced to another old goatherd who is also from India but speaks Hindi & still Najeeb is unable to communicate properly, but eventually understands that he's put into a hell from where he can never turn back & he's ruined. After few months Najeeb is habituated to the worst living & expects nothing but death. He's given only some water & food to save himself from starvation by the merciless Arab boss. Najeeb's few attempts to escape from the jail like living also fails multiple times & also he realizes that he's put into a place far away from civilization & cannot really go back. 

The old goatherd also dies & Najeeb is left helpless. Then one day after years meets his friend Hakim & by then he's forgotten to speak also, but just makes goat like sounds. With the help of another African goatherd Ibrahim (Jean-Louis) who's having knowledge of escape routes, both of them escape from the hell. But, they realize that this is much more tough then doing the slavery & in no time Hakim dies & Ibrahim too disappears in the deserts. Again left alone in the hot jungle of sand, Najeeb meets death to the utmost but still manages to escape & falls on a road of trucks & cars in between the desert & is saved by stranger Arab & from there it is what you have to watch for, whether he reaches his home or not.

02. What is to watch in for in Aadujeevitham?

It is about the performance- yes it is a one-man show! Prithiviraj just lived in the character of Najeeb. The movie is a survival documentary & has no many changes to the source novel from which it is adapted.  Blessy is just brilliant in bringing in the flavor of a survival drama with minimal effects of changes that need to be made for a commercial cinema, by the trailer it is pellucid that this film is only for movie lovers & not for commercial genre lovers & that is what is shown in the film too. 

There are certain cinema which are hard to be watched because they are too worst & there are other cinema again hard to be watched because we don't want to watch them again & put us in a state of agony & despair & this is such a movie It is filled of so much pain & sorrow that makes the audience to stay away from it, but when watched will leave you in a moment of life-time experience with heartfelt moments. There are scenes of nudity & pain which evoke damn sorrowness. There is a scene where Najeeb is unable to eat the hard roti burnt in coal directly & tears roll down his cheeks eating that sturdy food & we are emotional too. 

03. About the performances & technicalities.

As told, it is a one-man show, it is all about Prithviraj & his brilliance. This film is a gem in his crown & it showcases how good he's as an actor. Before someone criticizes him should think after watching this film. Expecting laurels for his solid performance & bow to his guts to accept such bold & physically straining character. Rest others were there for sake of the story. Amala Paul has nothing to do, a small cameo. 

Music score by ARR is something that makes this film a milestone, his BGM at places felt like heaven. If it was someone else, this film would be on a toss for sure. It is a rare thing to have him here in Malayalam & when he comes we know that he's the king. Just taking a bow for his years of mastery. Editing & cinematography had least scope as it is just a documentary & no more additional film elements needed. 

04. Finally?

If looking for any faults, yes this film also has that- it is just about survival drama that goes around food, water, living & surviving & round & round which is like a lag concept, it offers nothing new. I think the pain that has been showed can be little more intensified as at places the emotion doesn't match the density of the scene, like the way Prithviraj's transformation shapes out from a normal person unable to survive the typical conditions to a goatherd happens so swiftly that you realize that something is incomplete. Scenes to show how his survival became terrible should be worked on & his family suffering was never shown which is a drawback according to me. But, if it is a documentary made on survival drama what more can we expect? So, all the flaws can be overlooked.

Finally, as I told, there are films that hurt our heart to crux & we don't want to watch them again & this is such film. So, you have everything in front of you & it is your choice to how to watch this film. My rating is it is just heart-breaking & touching & I don't want to watch it again.