The Goat Life

Story: Najeeb leaves for the Gulf to provide a better life for his family in Kerala, but in caught in the cruel realities of work here


You don’t see Prithviraj the superstar in Aadujeevitham. Thanks to the real Najeeb’s presence during the movie promotions, you can see that the actor has brought alive on screen the character on whose life the story is based.

Based on the book by Benyamin, Blessy’s directorial is almost a dystopian take on migrant life in the Middle East. Najeeb mortgages his property to get a visa for the Gulf. In the layered story, we see Najeeb leave behind a verdant Kerala in the hope of providing better opportunities for his family. But he and a friend, Hakim, are unwittingly picked up by the wrong Arab sponsor when they land in Saudi Arabia and are taken to separate desert camps to herd goats.

The first half superbly juxtaposes life in Kerala and the harsh and cruel realities of the desert, where Najeeb lives a torturous existence with barely any food or water to meet his basic needs. And it would seem that the animals are kinder than the masters. Your heart goes out to the character and the trauma that his life has ironically become, in the hope of better pursuits.

As one horrible day grows into another, Najeeb suddenly meets Hakim again and there is a slight hope of the chance to escape with the help of an African labourer, Ibrahim Qadri, who is, apparently, familiar with the area. Will they be able to come out safe forms the rest of the story. But the second half falls slightly short, for one, with the story stretching on, and also with the director’s propensity for gimmicks, which takes away from the overall gem of a story.

What to say about Prithviraj, except that he lives the character and is superb as Najeeb, who is completely lost and at wit’s end in this unfamiliar region. Quite apart from the stunning body transformation, he brings the right mix of innocence and vulnerability to the role.

The cinematography by Sunil KS and KU Mohanan give the film the feel of a masterpiece. The desert is stark under their gaze and adds to the emotions of the storytelling. AR Rahman’s soulful music is already a hit on social media.

Having said all this, there is a slight lack of emotional resonance that was found in movies like Manjummel Boys and Premalu, the recent big Malayalam hits. But for a realistically told story of a man’s resilience and for Prithviraj’s acting, Aadujeevitham is bound to move audiences.