Naradan, directed by Aashiq Abu and starring Tovino Thomas, is a thought-provoking drama that originally released in Malayalam in 2022. After garnering attention through OTT platforms, the Telugu version began streaming on Aha recently. The story delves into the darker side of media ethics, focusing on a journalist’s ambition and the moral compromises he makes in his quest for power.

Plot Overview:
The Telugu version of Naradan is set in Hyderabad. The story revolves around Chandraprakash (played by Tovino Thomas), a young man from a middle-class family who works as a journalist for a reputed news channel in the city. Chandraprakash is respected and considered a key member of his organization. However, things take a turn when Pradeep (Balachandran) joins the channel, receiving a higher salary and position, causing intense dissatisfaction and jealousy in Chandraprakash.

Feeling undervalued, Chandraprakash quits and joins a newly launched news channel named Naradan. He becomes the driving force behind its programming and propels the channel to early success.

As his fame and wealth grow, Chandraprakash undergoes a transformation, distancing himself from his roots and loved ones, including a woman he once loved. His newfound arrogance leads to unethical actions, such as implicating a young man in a drug mafia case purely out of revenge. The narrative then delves into how Chandraprakash’s actions catch up with him, culminating in dramatic courtroom confrontations.

Analysis:
Naradan explores the lengths to which a journalist might go to achieve power and recognition. Director Unni R effectively crafts a gripping narrative that balances newsroom drama with courtroom sequences. The storytelling avoids unnecessary digressions and maintains a tight focus, delivering clarity and engagement throughout.

The courtroom scenes, often considered dry in many films, stand out as the highlight of Naradan. The dialogue and arguments are skillfully localized in the Telugu version, making them resonate with regional audiences. Additionally, the interplay between two rival news channels provides an intriguing backdrop, leading to an unexpected turn as the story moves into legal territory.

However, the film deliberately avoids elements like romance, comedy, or conventional entertainment, focusing solely on its intense, character-driven narrative. This could alienate some viewers expecting a more balanced commercial film.

Performances:
Tovino Thomas shines as Chandraprakash, portraying the character’s arrogance, emotional conflict, and moral downfall with conviction. His performance captures the natural transformation of a man consumed by power and greed. The supporting cast, including Anna Ben and Sharafudheen, deliver competent performances, adding depth to the narrative.

Technical Aspects:
Cinematography: The visuals are functional, complementing the story without being overly dramatic.
Background Score: Yakzan Gary Pereira and Neha Nair’s music enhances the tension, particularly in key moments.
Editing: The film maintains a steady pace, although some sequences could have been trimmed for a crisper runtime.

Verdict:
Naradan is a character-driven drama that sheds light on the dark side of media ethics and ambition. While its slow pace and lack of entertainment elements might not appeal to all, it offers a gripping courtroom drama and compelling performances for those who enjoy intense narratives. Tovino Thomas’s strong performance anchors the film, making it a decent watch for fans of realistic cinema.

What’s the film about?

This prison break film is centred around Parthipan or Parthi (RJ Balaji), who ekes out a living through his small roadside eatery in Chennai. Living at home with his mother who suffers from elephantiasis, Parthi’s dream is to own a hotel and marry Revathy (Saniya Ayappan), a flower seller. A retired IAS officer, Shanmugam, who’s a regular customer of his promises to secure a loan to set up his hotel and as promised he delivers. However, just before that dream is realised, Shanmugam is killed and Parthi is deemed the culprit and remanded to custody.

As Parthi struggles to prove his innocence, he gets embroiled in this dark world of the prison system, the manipulative prison officials like Superintendent Sunil Kumar (Sharafudheen), and the uncouth criminals controlling the prison, like Siga (Selvaraghavan). When riots take place in the prison, Officer Ismail (Nataraj) is appointed to investigate the truth behind them. What happens to Parthi? How does he get involved with Siga and the riots?

How does it fare?

Sidharth has penned the script with writers Ashwin Ravichandran and Tamizh Prabha, and he has tried his best to bring this real-life tragedy to life, focusing on the numerous characters at play in this big scenario. While Parthi (RJ Balaji) is the hook to the story, Sunil Kumar, Siga, Kattabomman (Karunas), Seelan (author Shobasakthi) and foreigner Kendrick (Samuel Robinson) all play an important role in how the tale eventually pans out and forms the crux to the riots.

The story is told in the format of the various cast members narrating their version of the story to Officer Ismail trying to incorporate all points of view to give him the whole picture. Kendrick makes violent gangster Siga a believer and helps reform him, while Seelan teaches him the difference between right and wrong. Kattabomman is the cop keeping a watch on the games between the prisoners and Parthi, the sacrificial lamb, who eventually becomes the pawn.

Unfortunately, while the director ambitiously tries to build up the story to the climax with each of these characters, one doesn’t connect with any of them. Parthi’s life story is just not compelling and he doesn’t fight to prove his innocence when he’s in prison either. So, what is his motivation in life? Siga, Mani, and Sunil Kumar are hardly ruthless and menacing to be deemed villains, so the story falls flat in that aspect too. At the end, one feels the characters work well but don’t connect interestingly and seamlessly to form the whole.

Parthi is a very different role for RJ Balalji, who’s mostly seen in roles with comic shades. He is earnest as Parthi, but this is not his best performance. He’s sadly not able to pull off the vulnerable, desperate hero convincingly. Selvaraghavan, Nataraj, Karunas and Sharafudheen have delivered good performances, while Saniya Ayappan and the lady who plays Balaji’s mother don’t have major roles. The cinematography by Prince Anderson is praiseworthy as is Christo Xavier’s music.

Sorgavaasal is a strong debut for Sidharth Vishwanath, whose talent is evident, but unfortunately, an underwhelming film.

Work-related horror often brings some of the best ambiance to the genre, as co-workers being trapped in a confined space ratchets up the internal clock and limits the options of the survivors. Such is the case in Black Friday, a horror comedy named after the newly formed “holiday.” As we get ready to sit down with our families and plan our shopping sprees, let’s line up to talk about the ups and downs of this film.

The characters in Black Friday are heavily stereotyped and modeled after longtime retail workers, so that anybody who works in that field will be immediately endeared to the self-deprecation and in-jokes that come with it. While archetypes like the unfeeling boss, the new deer-in-headlights, and the creepy older fraternizer are a little too ham-fisted, each of the actors have some nice moments and dry delivery that makes the comedy pop.

The toy store is well designed and well lit, so that the ambiance is not only set up for character isolation but also has a warm holiday feel and nostalgic props strewn about. This movie feels like a bit of Clerks mixed with Mayhem and The Fog. The comedy overtakes the horror in a bit of an unbalance, but when the movie chooses practical effects over CGI, the designs are gruesome and intricate.

When Black Friday leans into the heart and realism inside of its relationships, it really shines. This may be the kind of movie to click on after the turkey and pie start to kick in.

It’s available (as of this writing) on Freevee and Amazon Prime.