Narivetta

Story: Varghese Peter is part of the CRPF battalion sent to stand guard at the Muthanga tribal agitation. But the cop is disturbed to learn the administration's methods to beat down the protest

Review: Anuraj Manohar’s Narivetta comes at a very - for lack of a better word - interesting time. Just days after the top Maoist leader and activists were gunned down in Chhattisgarh, the film looks into the real-life Muthanga incident of early 2003, where protesting Adivasis in Wayanad came under police fire under the orders of the government.

In a non-linear narrative, the film opens with Tovino’s character running from the cops and them ambushing and taking him for questioning to a godown. We soon learn that Varghese Peter (Tovino) is also a cop. Why is he there and being held by the police? In flashback, we are given a glimpse into the start of the agitation among the tribals. Not given the promised land by the government and unable to find sustainable work, the leaders finally decide to congregate and protest in the Muthanga reserve.

Parallelly, Varghese’s story unfolds; an ambitious and emotional young man, who reluctantly joins the CRPF. He is sent as part of the battalion to monitor the tribal agitation and is irritated by the volatile situation that the cops are in, particularly when a colleague is killed. But he gradually learns some bitter truths about the powers that be, whether it be the administration or the police force. Will Varghese be able to bring justice to his friend and the tribals?

Abin Joseph’s script does not have the emotional and cinematic power of Nayattu, which is also about power play and creating scapegoats to take the fall, within the force and adminstration, and Anurag, too, hasn’t effectively used the different characters.

Varghese gets his epiphany about the tribal issue too late into the story. Then, he goes through an overly dramatic transformation, which makes the storytelling feel fickle. And maybe the focus was too much building Varghese’s character in the early part of the film, that the tribal issue felt a bit watered down. The main character would have been more effective as a voice of the agitation, rather than an outsider.

Cinematographer Vijay has created a visual experience that is definitely big screen. And Jakes Bejoy has been killing it with his music.

Arya Salim needs a special mention for her excellent portrayal of a tribal leader and for bringing to mind CK Janu. It is heartening to see that contentious political issues are being tackled through our films. In that sense, Narivetta is a brave, bold attempt. Amid all our entertainers, we periodically need cinema that shakes up the status quo and makes a new generation think.