Nayattu Analysis

 Nayattu (2021)

Directed and Co-Produced by: Martin Prakkat
Written by: Shahi Kabir, Cinematography: Shyju Khalid, Edited by: Mahesh Narayanan
Streaming on Netflix.

Spoilers Ahead. 

Just looking at the credits of the film makes me go 'wow!'. The cinematographer has directed and even produced films. The editor has written and directed two films starring Fahadh Faasil, and yet they work in each other's films as craftsman, and this is nothing but pure love for the craft of filmmaking. Coming to the film, it's a terrific thriller. They do solid worldbuilding for 25-30 minutes, they sprinkle what the film is trying to say here and there - with Maniyan talking about how even contract killers have a choice sometimes more than police officers as to who to kill and who not to. He goes ahead and wrongfully frames a guy, of course, because he is ordered to. This film is interesting because it has two levels of inciting incidents - one is the brawl which happens at the station which breaks the order of the film, and the main one is of course, the realization that the person who got hit is dead.

From there, it's these three cops on the run. For about 20-30 minutes, they are on the run and they crafted 2-3 simple and yet nail biting scenes. One, where the get down the bridge and get back into the car. And more such scenes. It also has a travel, life happening to them vibe where they are escaping and trying to survive. The tension builds up once we get to know that by 7 in the evening, some arrests have to happen. The cops are in pressure. Everybody is practically locked. It's like they have no choice, except integrity, which is perhaps not accessible at this point. The film then takes a terrific turn in the ending, where they make the arrest, Maniyan commits suicide, and we realize that they corroborated a fake arrest. This plot point is as good as an inciting incident of another film. That's the beauty of the film, it gets into a riveting angle in the last 20 minutes. The ending shot is a masterstroke in metaphors, about how after all this mess we have no clue about, we go and vote blindly. Though the film is a tragedy, it sprinkles a ray of hope with the fact that these two cops take a stand.