Nadanna Sambavam Movie Review : A cringe-free view of toxic & healthy marriages, and gender dynamics

Story: When stay-at-home husband Shankaran Unni and his working wife Roshy move next door to Ajith and Dhanya, things get a bit uncomfortable in the well-to-do gated community

Review: The good thing about Nadanna Sambhavam is that it gives audiences a view of what toxic and healthy marriages look like, how petty and quite repulsive it looks when men sit around drinking and making sexist jokes, and what giving a woman agency means. What would have made it better was if it had a more cinematic feel; the film now feels a bit like a telefilm.

Shankaran Unni (Biju Menon), wife Roshy (Shruti Ramachandran) and their child, who have just moved into a well-to-do gated community, arouse the neighbours’ curiosity with the man being a stay-at-home husband and the wife driving to work every morning. They live next door to Ajith (Suraj Venjaramoodu) and Dhanya (Lijomol Jose), a wife who can barely tolerate her husband’s ‘social drinking evenings’ and his narcissism.

And when Shankaran Unni, a marine engineer with his easy charm and unique perspectives, quickly becomes a hit with the young housewives in the area, it doesn’t sit well with Ajith and his drinking buddies. Their talk, fuelled by videos taken by a ‘news vlogger’ in their group, typically turns to how Unniettan must be scoring with the women in the neighbouring houses. Finally, one day when a young sales girl goes into Shankaran Unni’s house, when he is home alone, Ajith barges in and thrashes him for his ‘deeds’.

Unni takes the matter to the police, who are left to consider whether a man talking about intimate things to another man’s wife is excusable.

Scriptwriter Rajesh Gopinadhan, whose credits include Kali, and director Vishnu Narayan have done a superb job of making the view on marriage and gender, and talk about sex cringe-free. The women discussing masturbation do it in a mature manner and it is the old policeman, trying to tease and taunt with unnecessary smiles and tone, who ends up looking immature and annoying. It also shows that an outsider can’t say what is going on in a marriage. Ajith is a good provider and ‘gentlemanly’ on the outside, but his wife is repulsed by his masochism. Similarly, Unni has an easy-going manner, but there are moments when his wife doesn’t understand what he is up to. It is all quite believable and nicely done.

It is also refreshing to see the men taking a beating, so to speak, for once. When Ajith makes a very typical husband, WhatsApp-like joke about what travelling with his wife was like, he and his company of friends are portrayed as being idiots. Also, it makes us think about, how as a society, we should now be mature enough to see that men and women can interact as equals and friends in various ways. It’s a thin line in real life, but the film portrays it well.

The film also works so well because the main actors are all above par. Lijomol excellently balances the wife’s tired frustration, without totally losing out on the joy of being a woman, who is playful, but also strong. Suraj is super as the quiet narcissist. Biju Menon and Shruti bring the right breezy charm to their characters, while also showing their vulnerable sides when confronted.

Nadanna Sambhavam is a film of the times and something we need at this moment to make us think about and discuss.