Survival movies can be classified as a traumatic genre. Not only are you experiencing incredible stories of human resilience and survival, but it gets even more frightening when you know that it’s a real-life story. As much as they are inspirational, they are also as hard to sit through. However, Blessy’s Aadujeevitham adapted from Benyamin’s bestselling novel is more heart-wrenching than inspirational.

Aadujeevitham pivots around a young man from the interiors of Kerala who migrates to Saudi looking for better prospects. But it doesn’t take much time for his journey filled with hope and pipe dreams to drift into a nightmarish saga of barrenness and forbearance. Director Blessy is thorough when it comes to building Najeeb’s excruciating survival tale. From his time as a happy villager to his barren existence in the desert, what remains consistent is Najeeb’s inherent naivety.

Najeeb is a tall, strapping young man, who has left his pregnant wife and mother back home with the hope of providing them with a better life. A school dropout, he is also not worldly, blissfully ignorant of the unsympathetic humans out there. He hasn’t seen a life beyond his quiet village and villagers. His world comes crashing down when he realises that he has been tricked into a life of captivity by an Arab. Najeeb,........

© Mathrubhumi English