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

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

psychological thriller film Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...

directed by

Aashiq Abu Aashiq Abu (born 12 April 1978) is an Indian film director, producer, 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 Kottayam'' (201 ...

starring

Tovino Thomas Tovino Thomas (born 21 January 1989) is an Indian actor and film producer who prominently works in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2012 with the film ''Prabhuvinte Makkal''. His breakthrough roles were in the films ''ABCD'' (2013), '' 7t ...

Anna Ben Anna Ben is an Indian actress who works in Malayalam cinema. The daughter of screenwriter Benny P. Nayarambalam, she made her acting debut with ''Kumbalangi Nights'' in 2019. Anna has since starred in the dramas ''Helen'' (2019) and ''Kappela ...

and

Sharafudheen Sharafudheen, professionally credited as Sharaf U Dheen, is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He made his acting debut in 2013 with '' Neram''. He got his breakthrough by portraying the role of ''Girirajan Kozhi'' in ''Premam'' ( ...

in main 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 and directed by Amal Neerad, the film stars Mammootty in lead role alongside an ensemble supporting cast including Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Nadhiya ...

Plot

Chandraprakash, an upcoming

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

working with the channel ''News Malayalam'', is a

talk show host Below is a list of talk show hosts, sorted alphabetically by their surnames. __NOTOC__ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z See also * List of game show hosts This is a list of ...

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. 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 An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

''Mudiyan'' asks some questions to Chandraprakash in a lift, after which he posts the video on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

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 Sekhar Menon is an Indian Musician and Actor primarily working in Malayalam cinema. He is a well known disc jockey too. He has deejayed at over 500 stages, mainly in Kerala. Personal life Sekhar has a degree in Sound Engineering from Chennai. ...

. The Song ''Thannatthaan'' was Co-composed by Fejo and Manchild.

Rex Vijayan Rex Vijayan (born 26 April 1983) is an Indian composer, guitarist, singer, record producer and multi-instrumentalist from Kerala. He is best known for being co-founder and guitarist for the alternative Malayali rock band Avial. He started out hi ...

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 worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

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

Omicron Omicron (; uppercase Ο, lowercase ο, ell, όμικρον) is the 15th 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 contras ...

. 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 cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

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'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, 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, t ...

'' gave 3.5/5 and wrote "A closer look at TRP chasing newsrooms". ''

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...

'' 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 Dhanya Rajendran, Chitra Subramaniam and Vignesh Vellore in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, And ...

'' 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 Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' 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 5,00,00,000 visitors on its website and app. Overview Pinkvilla covers entertainment and lifestyle stories. Its coverage extends to Bollywood, H ...

'' 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 Indian thriller films Indian sequel films 2020s Malayalam-language films 2022 thriller films