REVIEW OF ‘THE GOAT LIFE’
INTRODUCTION
Movie : Aadujeevitham/The Goat Life
Director : Blessy
Writers : Blessy, Benyamin
Star Cast : Prithviraj Sukumaran as Najeeb Muhammed (Protagonist)
Amala Paul as Sainu (Najeeb’s wife)
Shobha Mohan as Najeeb’s mother
Jimmy Jean-Louise as Ibrahim Khadiri (Najeeb’s brother)
KR Gokul as Hakeem (Najeeb’s friend)
Rik Aby as Jasser
Languages: Malayalam(original), Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada
The Goat Life/Aadujeevitham is a 2024 survival drama film which is the real life incident of Najeeb Muhammed who transformed from an expectant immigrant to a resilient survivor.
Benyamin's Aadujeevitham was a best selling novel in 2008. In the same year Blessy took the initiative and started the work for the 'The Goat Life'. His skillful direction gave life to this film announcing a great success. Prithviraj Sukumaran as Najeeb nailed the protagonist character. The film also shows the loving relationship between Najeeb and his wife Sainu played by Amala Paul.
This film was initially banned in several countries. Both India and United state companies contributed to the production of this film. There are shots of survival in a desert. The film making took a total of 16 years from 2008 and was finally premiered in 2024.
PLOT(Spoiler Alert)
Two Keralites Najeeb and Hakkim immigrated to Saudi Arabia expecting a job and a better life with the help of their acquaintance. Najeeb’s wife was 8 months pregnant when he went to Saudi Arabia. At the airport, both Najeeb and Hakim were misled by an Arab who was a fraud and took them to his place. They eventually got separated. Najeeb was left in a remote desert herding goats and camels.
People at the working place were brutal towards him. He was punished both physically and mentally. He suffered for years. He faced harsh oppressions. The film explores Najeeb’s survival with limited food and water. His appearance transformed from a healthy shaved man to a dreadful and a miserable one.
After years of survival he was reunited with Hakim. He escaped from the hell and finally reached his home which he thought would never happen. The family was reunited again and luckily Najeeb was able to live with his wife and his son the rest of his life.
CAST AND CREW
Prithviraj Sukumaran lived in Najeeb’s character. He seized the emotional resonance of the audience. The transformation to Najeeb’s character was not easy. In order to fit into the character, he had to lose 31 kg and had a 3 days fasting.
K R Gokul who played the role of Hakkim took a speechless transformation. All these shows the blood, sweat and tears of the crew.The secondary casts also took a good effort and played their characters in accordance with the novel. I have provided a picture of K R Gokul before and after transformation below.
Sainu, wife of Najeeb played by Amala Paul maintained a good chemistry with Najeeb all along the movie.
CINEMATOGARAPHY, DIRECTION AND MUSIC
The Goat Life was shot in Jordan (Wadi Rum), Algeria (Timimoun, Sahara Desert), and Kerala, India. The movie's visuals are spectacular. Cinematogarapher Sunil K S explains that shooting in a desert was challenging. Film was shot during the early days of the lockdown. The crew had several Covid -19 pandemic restrictions. They spent almost two months in the deserts of Nigeria and Jordan.
They took equipments needed to survive. The dedication and efforts of all the crew members are seen in the movie. We could see Blessy's directional vision and skill throughout the movie. The film also has a recognition for its best direction.
The direction itself has brought emotions in several scenes.He has done it in a way where it seems our worries are lesser in comparison to Najeeb's. He perfectly portrayed the visual representation of the film.
A R Rahman is the other piller of this movie that carried them all to success. His background score and songs summon emotions. My personal favourite is 'Periyonee' which is available in Youtube. If hardwork were the sole benchmark for a film, Aadujeevitham/The Goat Life would rank the best out there.
DRAWBACKS AND OPINIONS
In my point of view the film deserves an appreciation for all the efforts they have taken but I still see some drawbacks in which I thought they could have made it better or more realistic. People may think the movie is majorly about goats but its not. Goats were the only witnesses who saw the brutality and suffocation of Najeeb. The movie is the adaptation of the novel Aadujeevitham ( The Goat Life ) but I felt a huge difference in the movie from what I have read in the novel . Blessy must have chosen to make differences in which the audiences would prefer. I would say the book/novel is more detailed than the movie and it captures more emotion. What disappointed the audience is the film lacked and ending where Najeeb returning back home, seeing his family, their reactions were not shown left an unsatisfaction. Apart from these,the movie is worth to watch. It is truly inspiring to see how a man have survived a severe situation where he barely got any food or water. Living in hell for years and finally seeing light to escape. It really felt like the rebirth of the man Najeeb Muhammed. Now that he still lives among us like every one of us inspiring many to live. I would say that this is the best survival drama of the Indian cinemas so far. 'The Goat Life' didn't recieve any honor at the National Film Awards 2025 is really heartbreaking. Breaking the expectations of the audiences, the award was given to another film 'The Kerala Story' for the best direction and cinematography. I have a great disappointment on this because 'The Kerala Story' is nothing compared to 'The Goat Life'. The film might have not received the award but its still stands as the best in the hearts of all Indians. I strongly believe that Aadujeevitham/The Goat Life is a great win. It is available in Netflix. This is a must watch movie and I hope you guys will see through the eyes of the man Najeeb Muhammed.
Some details (About Characters in the intro, film banning etc....)are not part of the review but I hope adding these informations could give an overall perception of the movie. Thank you for having time on my review. Have a great day ahead.
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