“Well,
some people are just weird,” the male protagonist of Lal Jose’s
new film Nee-Na utters these words shortly after we are into
the story. He may have said it in the spirit that empathising with
them without being judgemental will make the world a better place to
live or he may have said it out of selfishness as this statement was
about one of his supremely talented subordinate who is haughty to the
hilt and an alcohol abuser of A+ grade. And, the film goes on to show
the turmoil that his accommodative nature brings into his life.
The
tagline of this film may say that it is a ‘tale of two women’,
but it feels that the hyphen (or the man between the two women) in
the title becomes as important as them by the end of this film. Neena
(Deepti Sati) and Nalini (Ann Augustine) are poles apart; one detests
norms and traditions like poison and the other adheres to them as if
they her lifeline. Between them the only common thing is the man they
both love; Vinay Panikkar (Vijay Babu). One is a normal housewife who
would not mind anything as long as her husband is physically faithful
to her, and, the other would go to any extent to charm her man.
In
most of the films and TV serials we feel that this story would not be
happening if the characters would have spoken their minds out at the
right time, there are couple of instances when we feel that here too.
But, when we absorb the whole content of the film, these are just
minor glitches.
Neena
is an alcoholic, this fact overshadows her brilliance as the creative
director of the Ad Agency she is working for. Vinay decides to
something about it when he becomes her boss. This decision somehow
makes his life go upside down. Neena begins to like him and does not
refrain from showing it. Thankfully, his wife Nalini is not insecure
and does not keep him on a leash. Though she extends an olive branch
of friendship to Neena and when she does not get it she just warns
her. Things never really get to boil. Sometime we doubt that Vinay is
playing along with the girl’s fantasy. But, when things become
unbearable, he lets her know that his priority is his wife and his
kid. So, he cannot go with her beyond friendship.
As
expected, the rejection has devastating effect on Neena and she
attempts suicide. When the hospital contacts Vinay, he is informed
that his number was found under the title My Man in Neena’s phone.
So, he is assumed to be her husband and he does not try to clarify
the situation beyond a point even after reaching the hospital. The
doctor there suggests that she should be taken to a rehab centre for
de-addiction. It is a twenty two day programme where the patient
should be accompanied by the spouse or a parent. He comes to
understand that Neena’s dad is indisposed with jaundice so he calls
Nalini, she just tells him to think rationally and do what he feels
right.
The
rest of the film goes on to elaborately show the de-addiction process
and Vinay himself is de-addicted of Neena’s obsessive love as she
comes out of her drunken stupor. In fact, Vinay himself goes through
the withdrawal symptoms along with Neena.
A
few years ago director Ranjith made Spirit (2012) that showed
alcoholism as a social menace. With Nee-Na director Lal Jose
tries to analyse the impact of drinking on an individual and the
people around that individual, and he does it triumphantly.
As it appeared in Rediff.
