Nalla Vishesham

Story: Kashi is an environmental activist who believes in organic farming. But he soon realises that his hamlet flanked by the mountains and rivers is also no stranger to the exploitation at the hands of greedy industries. ‘Nalla Vishesham’ is the story of his struggle to save his land, water and people.

Review: Directed by debutant Ajithan, ‘Nalla Vishesham’ is a film making a statement about the corporate exploitation of the environment in the name of development.

Kashi, the son of a martyred communist leader, is an environmental activist himself. He lives by the ethics of organic farming and yet soon discovers that industrial exploitation of the environment has reached his tiny village of Aryankavu. ‘Nalla Vishesham’ traces his struggle to save his soil, water and his people.

With a cast full of minimally known amateur artists, ‘Nalla Vishesham’ is more message and less story. And performance sake, Biju Sopanam is by far the only relief to the cinema. But the fact that his character lacks screen space helps no one. Vinod Vishwan cranks the camera for ‘Nalla Vishesham’ and saves the narrative to a certain extent.

An awkwardly-placed romance, and a patronising, preachy and detrimentally naive and largely predictable storyline makes ‘Nalla Vishesham’ a strain to watch. Even riding high on the environmental message, the film lacks logic and reasoning to a large extent. The background score too doesn’t add much value to the narration.

Kerala is witnessing a string of protests against the exploitation of nature in the name of development. While the message is timely and urgent, the film doesn’t serve its cinematic duties whatsoever.