The film had built extreme hype around it before its release, with the hardships the cast and crew had to go through over many years to finally be able to release the film.
The film follows a non-linear pattern with Najeev landing at the Saudi airport and not finding his Visa sponsor. After waiting late evening, one Arab man comes in and takes him and his friend along in a truck. Far away from civilization, amidst the sea of desert, he is forced to live a life worse than the Goats he has to take care of. The Arab beats him day in a day out for a handful of rice and some water, under the scorching heat of the Middle East. The story is a courageous tale of survival and freedom.
As an audience, we are fed with the context with flashbacks of a well-fed Najeev (apparently Prithviraj weighed 97 kg here), who's married and has an expecting wife. To secure a future for their growing family he takes the risk of falling for the Gulf Dream as many in Kerala do even today (some of them billionaires today).
As it establishes the context, it spends too much time on his romantic life with elaborate songs of intimacy and regular Indian film clichéd romance. The entire 15-20 minutes distracted me from the plot in a wrong way. As it comes back to the plot, you take some time to adjust to the mood. The editing is not fluidic and hence the intended tension doesn't set in. These important minutes spent showcasing the love story could have been productively utilized to build characters.
Even the scenes in the desert seem prolonged with events here and there without much grace. The role of Najeevs friend (Hakim played by Gokul) is a poorly enacted character who is meant to hyperventilate or smile without reason. He never evokes any empathy nor does the over-dramatic scenes in two-thirds of the film.
The songs don't seem like Rahman, but the sound design by the Oscar winner, Resul Pookutty sure does win my heart. So does the beautiful Desert landscape cinematography which occupies a good part of the film.
The film ends like an uncleaned mess. There's no reference to the actual Najeeb nor does any actual visuals of his return or even within the film they don't show him uniting with his wife or the family. When the director has set up the audience to stimulate so many feelings for their love, why did the director not take one step further to close it off?
It's overall watchable film at 6/10
But with great direction, this could have reached greater heights. Prithviraj has done a great job with losing weight for the character. He looks the part.
The film follows a non-linear pattern with Najeev landing at the Saudi airport and not finding his Visa sponsor. After waiting late evening, one Arab man comes in and takes him and his friend along in a truck. Far away from civilization, amidst the sea of desert, he is forced to live a life worse than the Goats he has to take care of. The Arab beats him day in a day out for a handful of rice and some water, under the scorching heat of the Middle East. The story is a courageous tale of survival and freedom.
As an audience, we are fed with the context with flashbacks of a well-fed Najeev (apparently Prithviraj weighed 97 kg here), who's married and has an expecting wife. To secure a future for their growing family he takes the risk of falling for the Gulf Dream as many in Kerala do even today (some of them billionaires today).
As it establishes the context, it spends too much time on his romantic life with elaborate songs of intimacy and regular Indian film clichéd romance. The entire 15-20 minutes distracted me from the plot in a wrong way. As it comes back to the plot, you take some time to adjust to the mood. The editing is not fluidic and hence the intended tension doesn't set in. These important minutes spent showcasing the love story could have been productively utilized to build characters.
Even the scenes in the desert seem prolonged with events here and there without much grace. The role of Najeevs friend (Hakim played by Gokul) is a poorly enacted character who is meant to hyperventilate or smile without reason. He never evokes any empathy nor does the over-dramatic scenes in two-thirds of the film.
The songs don't seem like Rahman, but the sound design by the Oscar winner, Resul Pookutty sure does win my heart. So does the beautiful Desert landscape cinematography which occupies a good part of the film.
The film ends like an uncleaned mess. There's no reference to the actual Najeeb nor does any actual visuals of his return or even within the film they don't show him uniting with his wife or the family. When the director has set up the audience to stimulate so many feelings for their love, why did the director not take one step further to close it off?
It's overall watchable film at 6/10
But with great direction, this could have reached greater heights. Prithviraj has done a great job with losing weight for the character. He looks the part.