Nagendran’s Honeymoons Plot: Nagendran (Suraj Venjaramoodu) is a lazy, jobless man in his early 40s, who hails from Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram. He is still dependent on his mother, who does odd jobs to make ends meet. His best friend Soman (Prashanth Alexander) is a drama artist and marriage broker. Nagendran, who dreams of leaving his hometown and settling abroad, is motivated by his foreign-returned friend Paulose (Ramesh Pisharody) who offers him a job in Kuwait.

In order to find money for Visa, Nagendran marries Janaki (Alphy Panjikaran), the daughter of his uncle, after her father promises him a good amount as dowry. When things don’t go as planned, Soman motivates him to marry multiple women, to make money easily. Nagendran soon gets married to the mentally unstable Lilly Kutty (Grace Antony), an ex-convict named Laila (Shweta Menon), pregnant Namboothiri girl Savithri (Niranjana Anoop), sex worker Thangam (Kani Kusruthi), and Tamil girl Mozhi (Ammu Abhirami) with changed identities.

Nagendran’s Honeymoons review: Nithin Renji Panicker, the Kasaba fame director made his OTT debut with the Suraj Venjaramoodu-starrer. The filmmaker, who has also penned the series, sets up the premise on an interesting note on the first episode. Nagendran’s mundane life, his disinterest in hard jobs and disregard for old his mother and her efforts, are well established. However, most of the comic gags fall flat, owing to the uninspiring writing. Surprisingly, even the presence of actors like Suraj Venjaramoodu, Prashanth Alexander, and Ramesh Pisharody, who are best known for her comic timing, doesn’t help much.

However, Nagendran’s Honeymoons struggles to keep the viewer engaged, soon after the narrative steps into the main plot – the protagonist and his wedding. The mediocre writing is further damaged by the dull narrative, that struggles to keep the viewers hooked to the screen. The predictability factor makes the rest of the series an absolute snooze fest. Even though all the female characters, especially the leading ladies are introduced well and have the potential to emerge as interesting, memorable characters, all of them end up forgettable. Later, the series rushes to its bizarre climax, leaving quite a few loopholes and questions.

Suraj Venjaramoodu’s Nagendran lacks a defined character arc, and this makes it difficult to empathize with the character. However, the National Award winner has played his part well. Prashanth Alexander delivers a decent performance as Soman. Even though this character has an interesting arc, the abrupt end of the series leaves this potential untapped. The leading ladies, including Kani Kusruthi, Shweta Menon, Grace Antony, Niranjana Anoop, Ammu Abhirami, and Alphy Panjikaran have played their parts well. The supporting cast, including Ramesh Pisharody, Kalabhavan Shahjohn, Janardhanan, Srikanth Murali, Sreejith Vijay, Reshmi Boban, and others are fine in their respective roles.

Renjin Raj’s unremarkable background score fails to elevate the already sluggish narrative. Cinematographer Nikhil S Praveen has done a remarkable job with the visuals of Nagendran’s Honeymoons, which established the period and space, very well. Ronex Xavier and Nisar Rahmanth have done an incredible job with the make-up and costumes, respectively.

Verdict: Nagendran’s Honeymoons is a dull and boring web series which is let down by its uninspiring writing, despite having a great potential. You can watch (if you have a lot of free time) on Disney+ Hotstar.

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