Aadujeevitham; neither a movie nor a book

 Hola and Hello my readers

Señorida Anastasia. 

In this post I'm talking about The Goat Life AKA AADUJEEVITHAM. My mallu mates have surely heard of this and most of them… I assume… may have watched this before me. I'm not just talking about the movie. I'll be talking about the book and the true story behind this Legendary Incident which only seems underrated in front of my eye. 

You have heard of the survival tale of Juliane Koepcke, now Juliane Diller. She was a victim of the Lansa Flight 508 plane crash. It was on my English reader as well. This tale of survival, adventure, intelligent application of the known knowledge thrills, frightens and most importantly teaches something we have never even thought of. 

She survived days in the Amazon forest. 

Juliane Koepcke's survival story is just one of my favourites in both fictional and non-fictional stories. But my most admired tale is The Goat Life.

Aadujeevitham is a recognized Indian novel belonging to the malayalam literature. It is authored by Benyamin. I had the knowledge about a survival story that was going to be a film starring Prithviraj Sukumaran a really long time ago when I was 10 or 11. Nobody knew if it would ever come out any soon. It was a movie that everyone waited patiently throughout the years.

Under my mother's guidance I read this book. Man! I've felt my heart shatter and ache. I've felt a thrill through me whenever a mercy was cast upon our protagonist and hero, Najeeb. It was the most touching read. I felt the pain, hate, love, hurt, torture, helplessness, fright and you'll feel it all when you read it. I was like going through the internet to read about the true incidents and see the true people. But there was a little information only then. Now that the film is out, we can find a lot about it. 

Migration to the Western Asia became a popular temptation back in the day in my little Kerala. My father, my grandfather, uncles were all in the same cause. It was to get your family a better life. It was for your family to live better. This tale happened a long time before the migration process I know.

During the initial days, people would cross oceans to get to the country. They would pay a huge amount this people who would take them in ships. The ship stops a long distance away from the shore. People jump from ships and swim to the shore. Some die during the travel. Some die drowning either in the ship or when swimming. Some get caught or shot by the Arabian police. Only a few would get to their agents gasping for breath. They are dropped of somewhere in the middle of the whole new world they haven't even seen in pictures. Overtime they become legal or the citizen of whatever Arabian country they were on. Some might have been caught, killed or sent back by the government. 

This trend continued and it continued to a time when it was possible to go to these countries with a job visa in a flight. People who come home for vacation bring visa's with them. That's how Najeeb decided to go as well. He wanted to give his family a better life. He wanted to get out of poverty. He wanted his child that wasn't even born then to have a good life. There weren’t airports in Kerala back then. He took the train with another guy named Hakeem whom he was introduced to by the same guy who gave him the visa. Hakeem was a young fellow. Hakeem's father was in the Western Asia as well. So he also decided to go in order to have a better future. Staying here wasn't much of a choice back then. They went to Bombay, now Mumbai. From Mumbai they take the flight to Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

Everyone who came with them had their sponsors pick them up and take them to their lodgings. These two people who didn't even know the Arabic language wandered around the airport. They found a Keralite in the airport and he assured them that their Kafeel… sponsor would arrive soon and maybe it would be because of the traffic that there is a delay. It was reasonable for traffic to have occurred on Friday. Friday is an auspicious day even in the Arabia I know. An Arab walks around the airport as if searching for someone. When this unusual Arab guy realised that these people didn't even know the language and were willing to come, he snatched their passports and took them. 

The transport goes on and on and on and on. City lights disappeared. It was dessert then. The car makes a stop. The Arab guy demanded Hakeem to stay at that farm. He beat the desperate Najeeb and Hakeem when they protested. Then Najeeb was also dropped in a farm afar. It was then he realised that he was tricked and put in a prison never to escape. There was sand all around. 

The rest is… I can’t write. I can't write the complete novel here. 

Denial of every single right. Torture. 

And it is years or months later another man… Ibrahim Khadari… A strong African is brought to the next farm. When the Arabs left for their daughter's marriage, they all escaped. But it was to either die, or survive at a chance in a million. Escaping desert isn't easily said as done. Hakeem dies. Ibrahim Khadari disappears when they reach the main road. No one lets Najeeb into their car. Because it wasn’t Najeeb. It was a dirty animal. Not a human. But some good soul did take him and he was found in the street by a Keralite. That guy took him in and transformed him into a man. Gave a phone. His wife bursts out into tears. His son is in school now. It was a son. He didn’t even know that. His mother had died.

In truth, Hakeem and Najeeb after their time in prison and streets get to India. But Benyamin, the author, decided it was better for the book if Hakeem dies. Because then, it's THE GOAT LIFE. Many people have been lost like this. They have died escaping. 

This is what happened now. It's not just a movie and it's not just a book. It's what happened to a man. It’s what happened to people.

When reading the book, though, I knew some parts… It was an amazing read. I gave all these emotions. I think it's because I read the book that I didn’t enjoy the film much. 

Oh and the film!!!! The actors had to lose all their weight for this insane body transformation. 16 years of film making it was. Always obstacles were on the way. The first and foremost thing… shooting isn't allowed in Saudi Arabia. It was shot at Jordan. And all these geographical features, the body transformation, pandemic… every obstacle was on their way. And such a long story into a movie is also just the hardest thing. The film is a milestone in the history of the Malayalam film industry and the Indian Cinema. I think it would have seemed almost impossible from such a small industry. 

I did feel intrigued, sad, mad, and just wanted to scream on what was happening while watching the film. I am not going to watch it again but I’m stating clearly that it”s your loss if you lose the chance to grasp the experience.

I wrote this post months ago but I am posting this only now. For the record, it bagged a number of film awards. You should definitely hear A R Rahman’s Periyone song if you haven’t heard it till now. It’ll stir your soul, I promise. 

Have a wonderful day. I’ll be back soon with another post.