It is often considered both cruel and somewhat naive to compare an original text with its movie adaptation, but in this case, that crime can be committed since the entire premise of Zee5's Malayalam web series Manorathangal is to celebrate the writing of M.T. Vasudevan Nair. In that spirit, Ranjith's Kadugannava: Oru Yathra Kurippu, starring Mammootty in the lead, remains a hastily jotted-down travel note of the original short story. It seems like director Ranjith cannot be blamed entirely, as the duration constraints set for each episode must have clouded his decision-making.
When journalist Venugopal (Mammootty in the film) waits inside the flight from Madras (Chennai) to Colombo, MT uses the waiting time to introduce his character and draw a vivid sociopolitical picture of Sri Lanka. However, in a rushed effort, Ranjith misses this chance and chooses to impart only limited details about his lead character to the viewers. Ranjith's 1994 Colombo appears far removed from MT's war-torn Colombo, where only months ago, President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated by a suicide bomber. MT portrays Colombo under the tight grip of the Lankan army as a reason for Venugopal's anxiety, which only dissipates when he finds someone waiting, holding a plaque with his name on it. However, Ranjith fails to establish that Venugopal, once a maverick journalist and wanderlust, now aged, feels like a vulnerable man with anxiety and other issues. When Ranjith's Venugopal, standing on the balcony facing a calm sea, tells someone over the phone, "They are gentle people, still devastated by the war," one is compelled to wonder how it would have played out if Pa. Ranjith had gone forward with the Mammootty project as the media had reported.
Ranjith uses the time gained in Colombo to narrate in detail Venugopal's memories of the day when Achan (Vineeth) came home from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) with numerous boxes and the little Leela. Once in his territory, Ranjith's storytelling flourishes. The extensive production design and play of golden light passing through the numerous obstacles, casting magical shadows in mid-air inside the rooms of an old Kerala home, is refreshing. Vineeth, Anumol as Venugopal's Amma, and Master Aarish as young Venugopal excel in their roles. Ranjith uses dragonflies and golden hues to convey to the viewers how precious these memories are for Venugopal.
The same cinematic freedom that fell flat in the beginning works enchantingly for Ranjith in the final leg of the movie when he decides to deviate once again from the original text, where Leela is shown as dead. When Ranjith's Venu reaches Leela's house at Kadugannava, he is met with the hostility of their poverty. However, when he walks back, leaving the wooden owl and the little treasure chest gifted to him by Leela, a hand emerges from the window and triggers a piece of chime from it. Venu pauses for a second, a faint smile—innocent as a child's—flashes on his face, and as he walks out, in front of the crumbling house, we see dragonflies. It is here that you realise why Mammootty had to play this role. Until this moment in the film, it could have been anyone's role, but the actor in Mammootty owns this one with his subtlety.