Nayattu - A gripping and haunting thriller! Not so sure about its politics though!

Bharath Vijayakumar

Like Vettrimaran's Visaranai, Nayattu is also a film about how the heartless and cunning system would not think twice before preying on its own. Three cops are on the run from a system that they are/were a part of. Structured as a road thriller for a substantial portion, Nayattu is a commentary on how the system operates and how everyone who is a part of it can change from a hunter to a prey in no time.

Nayattu spends the initial half hour in establishing the characters of the three cops - Praveen Michael (Kunchako Boban), Maniyan (Joju George) and Sunitha (Nimisha Sajayan). These scenes do not play out like a setup for things to come and the narration is unhurried before the conflict arises unannounced. The striking aspect of Nayattu is that no one seems to be spotless. So while we are rooting for the three cops in the second half as they are on the run for no mistake of theirs, we aren't really sure about how clean their conscience is in general. Maniyan for sure has an entire baggage of guilt. We are shown how he frames innocents at the behest of his bosses. He is a cog in the wheel of this dishonest and corrupt system. He frowns at one point saying that atleast goondas have the freedom to turn down requests. He might be an unwilling partner in crime but that doesn't take away anything from the fact, that he has been ruining innocent lives, wearing a uniform that is supposed to protect. Sunitha and Praveen appear to be clean from the little we know of them. But they again are at the start of their career and so we don't really know if they would stand up against the system in the long run. So Nayattu is primarily about hunters being hunted and what haunts us is the nonchalance on display. At no point in the film, we sense that the characters are doing these things for the first time. It simply comes across as their routine and the horror feels real.

The politics of the film is what could be debatable. I may not be competent to comment on the issue that the film speaks about but hopefully the film opens up a discussion. How the the politicians use the police force as a tool to act based on their agenda and how a ruling government uses the entire system, keeping in mind the upcoming election is the crux of Nayattu. The entire plot kicks off when a dalit youngster misbehaves and this sort of sets up a sequence of unrelated events. From what we get to see in Nayattu, the ruling party is desperate not to earn the wrath of a dalit party on the eve of elections and tries to frame the three cops to ease the situation. At the outset, let us be clear that the plot of Nayattu or what it shows may not be problematic per se. But what would be the outcome or the bottomline that gets registered subconsciously in the minds of the audience is definitely something that might have to be discussed. It could very well create an impression that the oppressed play the victim card to play havoc in the lives of others. To balance things, the movie takes the easy route by portraying two of the three cops at the recieving end as dalits. But the problem here is that they do not end up being framed because they are dalits. They just happen to be there whereas the entire plot of Nayattu happens because of the victim play and protests carried out by dalits. Even the argument that happens inside the police station stems from the dalit identify of that hot headed youngster. The cop accidentally pushes a belonging of the guy and walks away without picking it up for him and an argument and fistfight ensues. But what happens before the argument is crucial. The guy says that we no longer bow down before you and all those days are long gone. Taking this scene alone into consideration, it would look like the cop is at fault and the Dalit youngster is the hero. But before this, we are shown another scene where this guy spits on the wall of the police station and creates a ruckus. The plot might have worked even without showing the dalit youngster as a problematic guy and that is why the politics of Nayattu becomes dicey. Again, it is not that you should not show someone from the oppressed community as a bad guy but in Nayattu this representation comes across as though the guy behaves that way by taking advantage of his identity.

Then there is also this scene where Maniyan (who is also a dalit) is questioning a young couple. What happens is moral policing but that apart he asks them their names. The guy is Albert and the girl is Krishnapriya. He then gives a look of disapproval and disgust. Again, was this an attempt to establish him as someone against interfaith love? If so, what was the need for this. Maybe I am nitpicking. Maybe not. But these questions do arise, particularly in a film that is devoid of any flab. But that said, there is also some ground to play the devil's advocate and stand on the side of Nayattu. As said earlier, no one in the film seems spotless. Every character is black or at the best grey. So, it becomes a narrative about the survival of the fittest. Or more appropriately, survival of the most ruthless and cunning. Let us for a minute assume that victim play might be a real problem and that Nayattu does speak about very pertinent issues. The solution in that case is to create an equitable society devoid of discrimination based on caste, religion, gender and every other thing that you can think of. If victimization becomes extinct, so would victim play!

Bottomline:

Hard hitting, haunting and engaging with top notch performances. The politics though might be dicey!

Rating: 3.5/5