Story: Naval and her mother are victims of an ‘Arabikkalyanam’, and Naval is sentenced to death for a crime she is forced to commit. Will she escape the noose or not?
Review: Asma, a Malayali mother married off as a teenager to an Arab, finds herself widowed and isolated in an alien land very soon. She resorts to desperate measures to shiled herself from sexual abuse and to bring up her daughter, Naval, to be educated and empowered. However, both end up facing the same kind of exploitation and abuse by men.
The film is set in Iran, and the goes back and forth in time. In the present, you see a young Naval in an Iranian prison sentenced to death, who relates her past to her fellow prisoner.
The film does have a brilliant story, no doubt, with an unpredictable twist at the end but the way it is executed leaves a lot to be desired. It attempts to address several issues faced by women, but at the end they all get lost owing to an overly dramatic script. There is a segment involving two prisoners sentenced to death, for example, where the duo breaks into deeply philosophical conversations at their very first meeting. Fine actors like Shweta Menon are forced to go theatrical with their acting, which takes away from the poignant scenes.
The film does have its moments, though, and the part where Asma’s family marries her off to a 70-year-old Arab is heart-breaking, to say the least. Sudheer Karamana appears only briefly as her father but leaves an impact, so does Anu Sithara as a young Asma.
Iraqi American actress Reem Kadem as Naval presents an exceptional performance, and is probably the best part of the film. Adil Hussain Khan as an Iranian Govt Official also fits the bill perfectly, as well as Paris Lakshmi as his wife. Also, the film sends out some strong messages, about how the women watch each other’s back and come to each other’s rescue in a cruel world.
Perhaps, if the film had stuck consistently to a realistic mode of story-telling sans drama, Naval Enna Jewel might have been a watchable film which also addresses serious issues.
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