Celebration of youth is often the storyline for campus movies, and ‘Naam’ is no exception, but with a twist. It’s not just celebration that keeps the young spirits together, but compassion and living for the other.
With a bunch of newcomers, Joshy Thomas Pallikkal, the director who formerly produced 'Monsoon Mangoes', almost ‘cleansed’ the habitual negative elements in a campus life and made an ‘all is well’ movie, where everyone stands up for the rest and the life is all the more beautiful.
Without preaching, the story picks up the goody-goody elements and glorifies the selfless nature of the youth who are ready to sacrifice for their friends and goes to any extent in saving each other's life.
The story commences as a group returns from Chennai. As their vehicle halts at a workshop, a celebrity, Tovino Thomas, helps them get their vehicle repaired.
The overnight storytelling, through a lagging script revolves around a campus, their hostel and inmates from different backgrounds.
Without a love story or a ‘significant’ villain, the movie finds a central theme in the virtues of young minds, and the power of positive thinking. If end justifies the means, the director can be excused for a dull and monotonous narrative.
The flabby script, however does not reflect in the songs and dance sequences, which are dynamic and targetting the young with an exceptionally good cinematography.
Shabareesh Varma, famed for his ‘Pista Sumakira’ in 'Neram' and ‘Scene Contra’ in Premam, has come out with songs ‘Tanka Takkara’ which gained slots in the hit list, apart from donning one of the lead roles as Harris Muhammed. He and his friends including Rahul Madhav, Gayathri Suresh, Aditi Ravi and others are striving to bring one among them back to life after an accident.
Their struggles and motivation in bringing their friend back to life is the soul of the story, an adaptation and compilation of many real-life stories, which the crew acknowledges in the end.
Actor-director Vineeth Sreenivasan and Tamil director Goutham Menon make guest appearances. Thampi Antony, Renji Panicker, singer Krishnachandran, Ramu, Saiju Kurup and Dinesh Nair also appear in prominent roles.
Rating: 2.5 / 5
