Naradan follows the story of a TV journalist who will stop at nothing to bring viewership to his newly launched channel. Now where have we heard this before? 😏 Absolutely no prices for guessing the journalist in question here although a lot of it is plain fiction as well. The makers may have borrowed certain events from real life and have weaved a fictional tale. We all know the state of journalism in our country. It is a sad state and I really hope it improves in times to come else it will be a compromise to the democracy. But for the moment lets not get there. Knowing the kind of Malayalam films being churned out, they go all out with no half measures. Which is why I was expecting another Pada with this story.

The screenplay like Pada opens on a scattered note where slowly but surely you are introduced to the main protagonists. The competitiveness between media houses is smartly shone which resonates with the times we live in today. Soon, the game begins to get murkier by the minute where one of the protagonists launches his own channel and starts churning out lies in the name of truth. And thus begins the game of one-upmanship. So far so good and I was really enjoying the honesty with which the makers had decided to spell out the truth. There were even spells of caste discrimination which was cleverly touched upon. The issue begins in the second hour where the writers opt for an easy way out. Had this been a Bollywood film, this would have still worked but considering the high standards set by the Malayalam Film Industry, this was a rather diluted route which was opted. Do not get me wrong, the proceedings are intense and they manage to hold your attention but I really wished that the writers go all out and not shy away from a negative end which was prevalent in films like Nayattu or Pada. Somewhere my expectations were sky high and that was not met here. But overall still an impactful screenplay.