''Naradan'' is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

crime thriller film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...

directed by

Aashiq Abu Aashiq Abu (born 12 April 1978) is an Indian film director, producer, cinematographer, actor, and distributor, who works in Malayalam cinema. He is best known for his films such as '' Daddy Cool'' (2009), '' Salt N' Pepper'' (2011), '' 22 Female ...

. The film stars

Tovino Thomas Tovino Thomas (born 21 January 1989) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2012 with the film ''Prabhuvinte Makkal''. His breakthrough roles were in the films '' ...

Anna Ben Anna Ben is an Indian actress working primarily in Malayalam films, in addition to Tamil and Telugu films. The daughter of screenwriter Benny P. Nayarambalam, she made her acting debut with '' Kumbalangi Nights'' in 2019. For her starring ...

and Sharafudheen in lead roles. The film was originally scheduled to be released in April 2021, but was postponed due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India. After multiple postponements, the film was theatrically released on 3 March 2022 along with

Bheeshma Parvam ''Bheeshma Parvam'' () is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film produced, written, and directed by Amal Neerad. The film stars Mammootty in the lead role along with a supporting cast of Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Shine Tom ...

Plot

Chandraprakash, an upcoming journalist working with the channel ''News Malayalam'', is a talk show host and television

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

with a huge audience appeal. Chandraprakash is under pressure for doing stories that increase the channel's rating from his editor and bosses. When a fellow journalist, Pradeep does a new story and lands a job at ''News Malayalam'', Chandraprakash keeps aside his own moral principles and focuses on being number one. Chandraprakash meets a politician, Babuji, who offers him a chance to start a new channel, ''Narada News''. Investors seeking new

revenue stream A revenue stream is a source (or category of sources) of revenue of a company, other organization, or regional or national economy. In business, a revenue stream is generally made up of either recurring revenue, transaction-based revenue, project ...

s invest in Chandraprakash. He becomes a kingmaker through Narada, an influential person who is able to provoke

social violence Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

. Chandraprakash uses his strategy of fabricated and half-baked stories to meet his ends, beginning the channel with a sting operation on the Minister of Forests, Thomman Varghese. However, things change when a social media celebrity ''Mudiyan'' asks some questions to Chandraprakash in a lift, after which he posts the video on social media which led to many trolls. Chandraprakash fabricates a narcotic report against Mudiyan. Since he is innocent, Adv. Shaakira Mohammed meets him and decides to fight against Chandraprakash. Shaakira reveals all the illegal activities Chandraprakash has done to increase TRP in front of the court, which leads to Chandraprakash being arrested and sent to prison.

Cast

Music

Songs

The soundtrack features songs composed by Sekhar Menon. The Song ''Thannatthaan'' was Co-composed by Fejo and Manchild. Rex Vijayan played guitar for ''Thannatthan''.

Original soundtrack

The original soundtrack is composed and produced by Yakzan Gary Pereira and

Neha Nair Neha Nair is an Indian playback singer and composer. Her debut was a duet with Job Kurian in the film '' Ritu'', with music composed by Rahul Raj. She is a guest singer in the Malayalam rock band Avial. Personal life She currently resides i ...

Production

The film was announced in October 2020. Principal photography began on 25 January 2021. The film's shoot was wrapped up on 12 March 2021.

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released in April 2021, but was postponed due to the second wave of

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of , according to Indian government ...

. The film was later scheduled to release on 27 January 2022, but then postponed due to spreading of

Omicron Omicron (, ; uppercase Ο, lowercase ο, ) is the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. This letter is derived from the Phoenician letter ayin: . In classical Greek, omicron represented the close-mid back rounded vowel in contrast to '' o ...

. The film was then released on 3 March 2022 along with

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, ...

starrer ''

''.

Reception

''Naaradan'' received generally positive reviews from critics and audience. ''Bollywood Life'' gave 4.5/5 and wrote "Tovino Thomas and Anna Ben deliver the most stinging MASTERPIECE on TRP-hungry journalism". ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave 3.5/5 and wrote "A closer look at TRP chasing newsrooms". ''Firstpost'' gave 3.5/5 and wrote "Tovino Thomas, Anna Ben land a slap on the face of India's fake-news-peddling media". ''

The News Minute ''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Vignesh Vellore who is also the current CEO in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, ...

'' gave 3.5/5 and wrote "Tovino-Aashiq Abu film shows reality of new age journalism". ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

'' gave 3.5/5 and wrote "Tovino-Aashiq Abu film shows reality of new age journalism". ''

Pinkvilla Pinkvilla is an Indian entertainment and lifestyle platform. As of June 2022, Pinkvilla has over 50,000,000 visitors on its website and app. Overview Pinkvilla covers entertainment and lifestyle stories. Its coverage extends to Hindi cinema, ...

'' gave 3/5 and wrote "Tovino Thomas shines on screen as a news reporter in this thrilling story". ''Ottplay'' gave 3/5 and wrote "Tovino Thomas' anti-hero act makes Aashiq Abu's slow-burning thriller gripping". ''Behindwoods'' gave 2.75 and wrote "Naaradan keeps you hooked with a tight screenplay on modern-day journalism".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 13334870 2020s Malayalam-language films 2022 films 2022 thriller films Films scored by Neha Nair Films scored by Yakzan Gary Pereira Indian sequel films Indian thriller films