North 24 Kaatham

North 24 Kaatham (2013)

Debutant Director Anil Radhakrishan's North 24 Kaatham (N24K) is close to the heart and deals with multiple plots like Harthal, psychological issues and for instance, goodness and love.....

N24K has got a refreshing plot of how certain circumstances make Hari, a brilliant but meek and geeky techie meet two strangers, Gopalan, a veteran politician, and Narayani, a social worker and his journey with them from Paravoor in the South to Kozhikode in the North part of Kerala. The movie is all about their journey which inturn becomes a life changing experience for geeky Hari.

A good content makes the script half successful, and fully successful, when it is free from flaws and lags. This is the place where dir. Anil tops high. The script was error free without any boring sequences. The movie started very slowly in an interesting manner and the first half passed in a breezy manner, but the movie became much more interesting in the second half and ended with a beautiful climax. The penultimate sequences were really close to the heart and offered a great feel.

The movie presents the helping nature and the selfishness of people, vividly. The problems faced by a malayalee on a "strike" day seemed much realistic and close to the day to day life, notable in case of that gulf malayalee, played by Chemban Vinod.

Anil didn't limit his film to a "harthal" day film, rather, he has even discussed some psychological issues,love and goodness. Being a debutant, he was highly successful in presenting the well written script in an enterprising manner on screen. Anil has added flavors of humor and thrill, making N24K an entertainer in all aspects.

A well written script becomes a good movie mainly due to the excellence in performance..... This is where N24K strikes high.... Superlative Performance from #Fahad_Faasil remains as one of the highlights of the film. Certain mannerisms of him were really awesome. The not sudden but Slow transformation in Hari's mentality from a geeky guy to a well mannered loving man was excellently portrayed by Fahad. A promising actor with great caliber.....

#Nedumudi_Venu too exposed his versatility through the character,Gopalan. It was tailor made for him. Handled it with such an ease. My opinion is that, he should stop doing those formulatic oldie roles and concentrate on characters with good potential.

The rest of the cast including #Swathi Reddy and #Chemban Vinod were perfect in their roles. But the character of #Premji Amaren was surprisingly interesting....superb characterization....

The film excels in its technical side too.... BGM was matching the mood of the film.....especially of those in penultimate scenes. Songs were also good, with the last song offering a great feel.

Camera was also handled in a good manner. Being a road movie, Cinematography is important and Jayesh Nair was successful in capturing great frames.

On the whole, North 24 Kaatham is an entertainer of its own kind, without any lags. One of the best films of the recent times, which can easily be sorted into the list of best films of 2013

The film passes a beautiful message that, "Even if you are the most brilliant, you can reach your goals only by the help or caring of some people, irrespective of their status.....We may belong to different races, cultures and religions but our basic human qualities are the same. The common core values and a beautiful heart are far more important. "

My Rating: 4/5 A movie close to the heart, sure to be liked by common people...

Thank You for reading my views about North 24 Kaatham....

_Yours Truly Sooraj.

One of the great things about Malayalam cinema is that it keeps on experimenting with different genres and comes up with various story lines unlike other industries.

North 24 Kaatham (N24) is road-rom movie, which shows how a single journey can change one's outlook towards life. Protagonist of the film is 'Hari Krishnan', a software engineer who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is portrayed convincingly by Fahadh Faasil who undertakes a journey to attend a conference in Trivandrum.

First and foremost, the great thing of the film is its subtle depiction of the problems faced by people in Kerala like 'Harthal' strikes and carefully highlighting the perennial issue of politics. Debutant director Anil Radhakrishnan Menon has skilfully managed to incorporate such elements in the movie, with which every Keralite will relate to, but avoided a preachy tone or overemphasis on a particular subject. Menon has been able to unravel each character layer by layer until one reaches the center.

Fahaadh Faasil's character's transformation and his outlook towards life is aptly portrayed with subtle scenes that you cannot but appreciate his acting, which shows why Faasil is among the best in today's young guns. 'Nani', played by Swathi Reddy, is a carefree character who enjoys life and has a 'ready to help' attitude. The thing worth mentioning here is, the portrayal of her character by director Menon, he skilfully avoided to show scenes involving alcohol or to showcase unnecessary 'helpful act' scenes, but still is successful in putting across the message. Acting by veteran actor Nedumudi Venu playing as Gopalan, is like having a dessert after a course of a meal. Even though there is no relationship between Nani and Gopalan, you still see glimpses of father-daughter love between them, delighting the viewers.

The technical aspects of the film like direction and cinematography is really good and music by Govind & Rex adds to the film's good quotient.

Nutshell: If you had a bad day and wish to end it with a good feeling, you got to watch N24; with no love or fight scenes, it still captures your attention manages to show that love doesn't need words to express, emotions is enough.

This is a must watch for anyone who loves travel/road movies. You will have a feast of beautiful Kerala, visualize the life changing events of a man, experience the mastery of a travel story telling. The cast was so perfect with their flawless acting. Definitely a keeper. The movie portrays the everyday life of Kerala people in most places of the state. The strikes, shutdown of public services, travel hassles are not something that would be surprising for a Malayalee. If you are in the look out for a feel-good movie, experience an adventure in the most beautiful way, discover Kerala (Southern state of India), understand the emotions of strangers who you may meet during travel (India), see the heights of a clean freak - then this will be a worthy movie to watch. Malayalam language is a beautiful dialect (I do not speak Malayalam, but understand it well) - and will not be a barrier to watch this movie (there are sub titles available).

Ten years later and this is still fahadh's most underrated performance. Fahadh is a phenomenon today, with his roles in Aavesham and pan-indian films like Vikram and Pushpa gaining him acclaim. But this movie was made in a time where the actor had to prove himself as not just a nepo baby. I think North 24 Kaatham helped this view that after mamooka and lalettan, he was gonna be the best that mollywood had to give. And damn he is basically unrecognizable in his role. Like everything from mannerisms to the way he moves his eyes sternly at the beginning and becomes more free at the end is perfect. Its sad that this movie's print is so crappy because he was mere perfection in this film and shows us how this man managed to achieve the unimaginable success he has today. The best part is: the rest of the movie is pretty great too, with standouts being nedumudi venu's and swathi reddy's performances and the beauty and diversity of kerala being expertly portrayed on screen.

Fahadh is an amazing actor. He just gets into the skin of the character which makes the role lively and highly accepted by the audience. He plays an OCD person who is particular about his own way and is not a social person. This movie shows the change in the person by the situations he faces while on a journey and how 2 people had an impact in his life. Enjoyed the movie which was simple and something to which we could relate to.