Name: Nadikar
Director: Jean Paul Lal
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2024-05-03
Cast: Tovino Thomas, Divya Pillai, Bhavana Menon, Soubin Shahir, Balu Varghese

Synopsis

Nadikar

He always has his manager Paily Kuruvilangad and his make-up man-cum-driver Lenin by his side. All of his previous films have been superhits and as a result, he lives off a superstar status in the industry. David is shown to be a very irresponsible and arrogant person, always partying with girls, and not showing up to shoot locations on time. Due to the same reasons, his last three films have flopped and the crew of his next film which is directed by Dhyan Sreenivasan aren't confident about the output of the film. Dhyan tries calling David but he doesn't pick the call as he is busy partying. One day, David comes home and finds a script of a film in which he is supposed to star and is directed by Koshy, an acclaimed director who is very strict on-set. David goes to set the next day and acts with his co-actor Chandradas. Koshy lashes out on David due to his inability to communicate expressions on-screen during the shot and abuses him. An angry David storms out of the set and while going away in his car, injures one of the crew members of the film. This causes significant damage to David's image, so David, Lenin and Paily decide to leave to Dubai and stay there until the issue cools down. Koshy's film is eventually shelved. After returning from Dubai, Paily suggests that David meet Bala, an acting coach, to help in pointing out his weak areas in acting and improve them so that his films can fare better.

Director: Jean Paul Lal
Release: 3 May 2024
Run time: 140 min
Language: Malayalam

Cast & crew

Tovino Thomas Cast DI Divya Pillai Cast

Bhavana Menon Cast

Soubin Shahir Cast

Balu Varghese Cast

Suresh Krishna Cast AN Anoop Menon Cast AL Althaf Salim Cast

Madhupal Cast

Ranjith Cast

Dinesh Prabhakar Cast JE Jean Paul Lal Director

Reviews

Indian-media reviews, grouped by reception.

Critics' consensus

Mixed

Across 2 available source-linked Indian-media reviews for Nadikar, reception is mixed.

IMDb is a reference rating and is not counted as an Indian-media review.

Best forViewers looking for comedy in Malayalam cinema.

Reception Order

All 2 reviews shown

Rediff Arjun Menon

Everything is simplistic and the screenplay is in a hurry to get across its thesis statement of art being not merely a projection but a way of life, coupled with some seething commentary on the standards of celebrity culture and stardom. All these ideas work well on paper but when the protagonist loses his sense of agency to a quick PowerPoint presentation in the second half, the film feels rushed. Tovino Thomas is splendid as the sensitive yet brash superstar, whose arrogance is only matched by his ability to belittle himself and others through childlike outbursts. The film is held in its centre by the star who lends inner complexities and some sense of agency in the hero's arc, who is treated like a buffoon unaware of his own issues.

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Cinema Express Vivek Santhosh

2024-05-03

The film attempts to examine this notion of stardom as a meta-commentary in today's times, showcasing how the Malayalam film industry operates. Unfortunately, apart from barely scratching the surface of the underlying themes and featuring some customary tongue-in-cheek gags related to the industry, it offers hardly anything new that we have not seen before. The first hour of Nadikar moves at a brisk pace as it leaves no stone unturned in portraying David's unhinged and insecure life as a junkie and womaniser, who can't move on from his ex-lover. However, it significantly falters in engaging the audience post the interval when David reluctantly starts embracing Bala's pieces of advice on how to act.

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