'Nadan' review: Kamal succeeds in portraying troubles dogging theatre

Cast: Jayaram, Remya Nambeesan, Joy Mathew, KPAC Lalitha
Director: Kamal
Rating: Three and a half stars

Play is the thing. But is the stage bigger than life itself? This is the central question in director Kamal’s 'Nadan', which showcases a small group of individuals who lived and died for the stage and brings out the drama behind the drama.

After the highly successful 'Celluloid', where he went back in time to talk about the unbelievable hardships of the pioneers of cinema to an audience that is well aware of the hype and hoopla surrounding film stars, he does the reverse in 'Nadan'.

He paints the current plight and poverty of the stage people, who have lost their audience and act for a pittance whenever they get a chance, at the same time juxtaposing these scenes with flashbacks of the golden era of the Malayalam theatre. Kollam, the land of drama troupes, provides the backdrop for the movie.

The central character of Devadas, played with great emotional depth by Jayaram, hails from a family of brilliant stage artistes but struggles to keep his drama company afloat. Starting sedately and in documentary style, the narrative goes on without much ‘drama’ till Jyoti (Remya Nambeesan) enters the scene. For Devadas, who is forever struggling to find good female artistes, it is like a fresh shower in parched land. It doesn’t take much time before the actor, for whom the stage is more real than reality itself, falls madly in love with the lovely and gifted actress. He loses his family first and later Jyoti, too, when the lucrative world of celluloid beckons her.

While Kamal succeeds in portraying the problems dogging the theatre world, he is nearly at a loss when he tries to suggest solutions through his movie. Perhaps the bitter truth is that there are no solutions at all. A friend who has moved to films returns to help him out and all he is able to do is to find a buyer for his script, the same one which he threw away because Jyoti for whom he wrote it had abandoned him and the stage. He wants her to do the film version at least but when she refuses, it makes him miserable and mad, alcoholic and delusional.

The film ends on a happy note and with a glimmer of hope but what is the real reason why theatre is dying? One unconvincing reason that is trotted out repeatedly is that there are no new scripts. The characters seem clueless and so are we.