‘Nagendran’s Honeymoons’ collection evaluation: An unimaginatively written collection that doesn’t tread any new floor

Suraj Venjaramoodu in ‘Nagendran’s Honeymoons’
| Photograph Credit score: Particular Association

Nagendran, the titular character in Nagendran’s Honeymoons, seems to be a creation of comfort. He’s written as a naive, hapless man who would roll with out resistance in any route that he will get kicked. Nothing seems to curiosity him besides good meals. Not even a glimmer of want is seen in his eyes when he appears to be like at any of the six ladies he marries, one in every episode of the collection.

This portrayal is handy in deflecting the anger that one should naturally really feel in the direction of a person who indulges in serial marriage fraud. His shut pal Soman (Prasanth Alexander), a wedding dealer and a drama artiste, is the character written in such a approach as to bear the brunt of the anger. The scheming Soman devises plans to repair Nagendran (Suraj Venjaramoodu)‘s marriage with a number of ladies, one after the opposite, to swindle the dowry cash.

Nagendran goes with the plan with out resistance, abandoning every of the ladies with out regret in order that he can get sufficient cash to fly to Kuwait with the assistance of one other pal. In one other writing selection notable for its comfort, a lot of the ladies have a flaw; Lilly (Grace Antony) has psychological well being points and indulges in bouts of violence, Laila (Shweta Menon) is out from jail having served a time period for homicide, Savithri (Niranjana Anoop) is pregnant from one other man and Thankam (Kani Kusruthi) is a intercourse employee. Against the law dedicated in opposition to a flawed character would seem like forgivable. Nagendran additionally will get a shot at redemption with an honourable confession, fairly uncharacteristic of how he was behaving until that time.

Many of the episodes are iterations of the identical narrative, of the fraudulent duo entrapping a weak girl in marriage. One factor that saves the poorly written episodes is the change in locale in every, from the backwaters to the highlands all throughout Kerala. Some considerate work will get finished in recreating the late Nineteen Seventies time interval during which the story is ready, however the background rating used to evoke the interval solely works at just a few factors, whereas it seems jarring at different locations.

For filmmaker Nithin Renji Panicker, who debuted with the controversial Kasaba (2016) and made the somewhat forgettable Kaaval (2021), a number of the episodes in Nagendran’s Honeymoons are indicators of slight enchancment. However, some others, just like the one set in Ottapalam, are written unimaginatively. The complete prolonged a part of Savithri’s romance with a school professor and the emotional drama in her family would make us wonder if it was a spoof on some previous movie. However, no, the makers are useless severe about this.

The saving grace within the collection is the efficiency of Prasanth Alexander and, to an extent, that of Suraj Venjaramoodu, Grace Antony, Shweta Menon, and Kani Kusruthi. It was additionally a pleasure to look at yesteryear actor Janardhanan after a very long time. Nagendran’s Honeymoons is an unimaginatively written collection that doesn’t tread any new floor.

Nagendran’s Honeymoon is at present streaming on Disney+ Hotstar