#FilmyFriday: Nadodikkattu: Dasan and Vijayan will rule your hearts forever

Cinema in Kerala will return back to life from Monday (October 25), as they are reopening and there are new rays of hope everywhere. In cinema halls or in our living room, we love to watch movies, and what’s a better day than Friday to revisit some old classics?
In a world, where your browsing time exceeds the time of actually watching a movie, we have got you sorted.ETimes presents - #FilmyFriday, wherein we recommend our readers one Malayalam movie, every week.
So, change into your pajamas, place your favourite flavour of popcorn into the microwave, recheck if the drink is ready, and switch on your television or laptop. It’s Filmy Friday time!
And we have picked ‘Nadodikkattu’ for this week!
Director: Sathyan Anthikad
Cast: Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Shobana, Thilakan, Innocent, Janardhanan, Captain Raju, Mamukkoya, Sankaradi, Meena
Release year: 1987
The film opens with an ambassador car approaching, with the announcement of the Kerala lottery. The car passes by and now the camera zooms into Vijayan (Sreenivasan), who thinks the lottery is rubbish! Vijayan walks back home with a bottle of milk. He walks straight into the kitchen, to prepare some tea, only to find out that there is no tea powder! He is irked, as Dasan (Mohanlal) hasn't done the dishes last night. They are ‘Saha muriyans’ aka roommates! Vijayan is complaining about how he does the household chores alone and then has to rush back to his office. Dasan wakes up, but he is a little worried about the household chores. Off they go to the office on a bicycle, and this time too Vijayan is pedaling. They reach the office, late as always, and their manager scolds them. Vijayan complains about the ration rice, which takes forever to cook, while Dasan is irked that despite being a B. Com graduate with first class, he is working as a peon and an SSC fail individual is at the clerical post! Long story short, Vijayan and Dasan are struggling hard to make ends meet. The young, unmarried men have a family to feedback in their respective hometown, but this low-grade job hardly pays their bills (HRA+ day-to-day needs).
Dasan himself believes and behaves as if he is superior, as he is a graduate and his roomie Vijayan has only completed pre-degree. The two are friends, but not the BFF types, they share more of a Tom and Jerry relationship, except the attempt to physically hurt each other! Dasan’s efforts to woo a girl ends up in losing both his and Vijayan’s job, pushing them to step foot in cattle rearing. But that too has a foregone conclusion. After a lot of attempts to survive, the two decide to jet off to the Gulf to make a living. With the help of Gafoorka (Mamukkoya), they plan to go illegally to Dubai, on a ship, however, Gafoorka turns out to be a fraud, and Vijayan and Dasan land in Chennai. Want to know more? Well, you will have to watch the film to know the rest.

Gafoorka, Ananthan Nambiar (Thilakan), and Pavanayi (Captain Raju) are sure to make you laugh hysterically till your jaws hurt. Sathyan Anthikad has laid out the hardships unemployed young men had to face in the 1980s, but instead of setting the whole scenario in a serious tone, he has sought solace in sarcasm and it did make the grade! The incredible dynamics between the two characters - Dasan and Vijayan made their iconic characters in the history of Malayalam cinema and the duo’s tomfoolery just never gets old!

‘Nadodikkattu’ is an entertainer with a soul, that you would want to revisit infinite times, and yet leave you wanting more. The film is also a textbook for moviemakers, on how a well-crafted script, with incredible execution skills, could bring the best out of actors and leave an everlasting impression upon the audience.
Trivia