'Aadujeevitham-The Goat Life': A desert stormed
The phone at Malayalam director Blessy’s Kochi office hasn’t stopped ringing. A fortnight after the release of his new film Aadujeevitham-The Goat Life, he continues to receive congratulatory messages from fans in as far as London, Belfast and North America. Having already crossed the `60 crore milestone, and garnered raving reviews, it has been declared a critical and commercial success.
Based on a bestselling novel by Malayalam writer Benyamin, Aadujeevitham is based on the true story of a labourer Najeeb Mohammed, who lived in a village called Arattupuzha. To better his economic prospects, he flew to Saudi Arabia in 1993. He, however, ended up working in the desert, far away from human habitation, looking after 700 goats, even as his Saudi boss treated him like a slave. His misery came to an end only two years later.
Blessy’s first, and only, choice of hero for the project was Prithviraj.
“I knew I needed an actor who would have the dedication because the shooting would take around two years. And, secondly, Prithviraj is smart,” he says, adding, “When I interviewed Najeeb, he could not articulate his emotions; he just cried a lot. So the actor had to discover the emotions of a man in the morass of despair. I knew Prithviraj had the caliber to do this.”
Getting the perfect fit for the protagonist, however, was the least of his worries. The director’s original plan was to shoot the desert sequences in Rajasthan’s Thar desert, but he soon discovered that Indian goats were visibly different from the ones in Saudi Arabia. Blessy then contemplated importing 100 goats from the Middle East. The plan didn’t work either because of its potential to turn into a logistical nightmare, where goats needed to be quarantined in both countries, and even one animal falling ill would mean getting rid of the entire herd.
To find the ideal desert then, Blessy travelled to Morocco, Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman and Abu Dhabi. Eventually, he zeroed in on Wadi Rum in Jordan, and the Timimoun desert in Algeria. The hard work paid off; the desert visuals in the film are stunning: vast vistas of undulating sand, surrounded by high rocky mountains. “Members of the Bedouin tribe live there,” says Blessy, adding, “They added to the charm of the place.” Challenges also included the extreme climatic conditions of the place. In the end, they could only shoot between March and May.
In the film, Prithviraj interacts with goats a lot. When asked how those scenes were executed, Blessy says, “Goats are stubborn and individualistic. It was difficult to get them to do anything. It was only after much cajoling that they behaved in the desired manner.” But, the crew was ecstatic when they found a kid (baby goat) who was loving, obedient and followed commands. “We just had to feed it biscuits, and the shoot would move forward smoothly.” Not very different from Aadujeevitham’s performance at the theatres.