ആടുജീവിതം/ Goat Days/ The Goat Life - Novel vs Film
During the COVID-19 lockdown, as I had to abandon my plans of riding my motorcycle through the southern part of India and instead stay indoors, I had resorted to reading novels and watching movies. It was during this time that I read the English translation of Benyamin's most popular novel "ആടുജീവിതം", titled "Goat Days".
As I started reading the novel, slowly I was able to get over my disappointment in not being able to travel since the book led me along with Najeeb on a treacherous and unfathomable journey. Little did I know that, at that same moment, thousands of miles away in the desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan, the film crew behind the movie adaptation were stranded due to the same pandemic.
Since I really enjoyed the novel, I started eagerly waiting to watch its movie adaptation. Fast forward to March 2024, the film "Aadujeevitham- The Goat Life" gets released in theaters. Since there weren't any theaters near me that played this film, I had to continue my wait until it got released on OTT. Since I was getting impatient with the wait, in June I decided to read the original Malayalam version of the novel. Much like its English translation, the original novel was beyond amazing. There was rawness and palpable pain in each word. Each page carried with it the musty scent of the goats living inside the masara.
And today, as we are heading towards the end of July, I got to finally watch the film version titled "Aadujeevitham The Goat Life".
The movie was worth the wait. Prithviraj has poured every iota of his soul into crafting the film into what it really is. The effort he took to physically transform and evolve through the different phases of Najeeb's journey is just amazing. The same can be said about K. R Gokul, who instead of acting, lived as Hakeem. His transition from a naive, teenage boy to a ghoulish shell of his former self was just gut wrenching to watch.
The frames were captured meticulously and the transitions between the luscious greenery of Kerala and the dry, arid scenery of the Saudi desert is worth mentioning. Tying it all together with A.R. Rahman's background music, the movie provided the audience with a profound viewing experience.
As someone that has read both the English and the Malayalam version of the novel, I was naturally inclined to draw comparisons between the reading experience and the cinematic feel.
Even though the movie delivered an amazing viewing experience, as a reader and a big fan of the novel, I felt that the movie completely omitted many scenes that were crucial to the the total emotional experience. Most importantly there were hardly any scenes that showed Najeeb's interaction with the goats and how his demeanor and the influence the animals had on his life evolved. From resenting them to gradually empathizing with them to almost completely being a goat himself trapped in the masara, the title Aadujeevitham/ Goat Life really reflects on this transformation. But even though the movie has the same title, there wasn't a lot of focus on this aspect, which I felt was the whole premise of the novel.
The novel goes into details of how in the loneliness he had to resort to talking to and even personifying these animals. Each goat was given names by him based on a particular physical feature or some action it did. The bond that formed between Najeeb and the goats was the central theme of the novel, which the film failed to show the audience. I wish the film had added more scenes portraying this sort of connection and how Najeeb eventually became one of the animals instead of focusing a major portion of the film on his elopement from the desert. The scene in the novel where Najeeb names one of the young sheep "Nabeel", the name he meant to give his own son is quite moving. I felt disappointed not seeing any of that in the movie.
When adapting a novel into a movie, the biggest challenge is trying to fit at least most of the book's content into less than 3 hours of running time. This means that many scenes from the book does not get included in the final movie. Judged as a film, it is a good one. Prithviraj's portrayal of Najeeb was beyond convincing. It made me tear eyed seeing his plight. But when compared to the novel, the feel and emotions portrayed in the film doesn’t come close.
As I was watching the movie, I made a list of a few differences I noticed between the plots of the novel and the movie.
1) The Opening Scene:
Novel- Najeeb and Hameed going to the police outpost to get themselves arrested and put into the Saudi jail.
Movie- The immigration officer at the airport, checking Najeeb's passport as he lands in Saudi Arabia
2) Najeeb meeting Hakeem in the desert after years:
Novel- Najeeb runs to find Hakeem's masara after the rain and the thunder storm since the arbab leaves the desert that night. The arbab is terrified and refuses to stay in the tent. In the darkness of the night, Hakeem is portrayed as a ghoulish apparition that Najeeb cannot recognize for a while. It was a very emotional scene and the dreary darkness added intensity to the mood.
Movie- Najeeb runs into Hakeem while herding the sheep in the desert one day and almost immediately recognizes each other.
3) The budding friendship between Hakeem and Ibrahim Qadri and the rise of jealousy in Najeeb
Novel- Najeeb gets more jealous and lonelier when getting to know that Hakeem has a new friend in his masara. He has a co-worker and someone to talk to, while Najeeb is left to do everything on his own, with no one to talk to. This jealously only makes Najeeb more frustrated and he lashes out against the animals and even the Arbab himself. These events only make us more empathetic towards Najeeb and his fate.
Movie- Hakeem moves to a new masara and meets Ibrahim there. The plan for them to escape the desert is almost quick and in a matter of days.
4) The abandoned fossil of a jeep in the desert
Novel- No mention
Movie- During his first night in the desert, Najeeb slept on an abandoned fossil of a jeep. It is also where he kept his bag and clothes. This jeep was significant in the movie since inside it, he has engraved the names "Najeeb" and "Sainu" over and over and stared at it for a long time as they were trying to elope the masara. It was the last thing he saw at the masara as he fled on foot.
5) The jail life
Novel- Life in jail was crucial to Najeeb's journey. While most people get arrested and put in jail for commiting a crime, Najeeb and Hameed voluntarily gets themselves locked up. When compared to the back breaking and toiling work in the masara, jail life was an oasis. It was interesting to see how they were content and happy being in jail. The tale of Najeeb's perils becomes almost an urban legend among other inmates. Hameed getting recognized by his Arbab just days before his outpass arrived, and him houling out loud as his Arbab dragged him was just gut wrenching. From then on, Najeeb becomes silent and just waits for his outpass to arrive.
Movie- The whole jail sequence was a brief scene in the film with the Arbab seeing Najeeb and later Najeeb being freed. Hameed is hardly anything other than a background character in the movie.
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Conclusion: While the novel focuses mainly on the relationship and bond formed between Najeeb and the animals, the main theme of the film is on the survival and the changes, mainly the physical one that occurred to Najeeb. A bulk of the novel comprised his "Goat Life" in the masara, while the movie was heavy on the elopement and journey towards freedom.
-Rithin MK
July 21, 2024
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