Nagendran’s Honeymoons is a newly released web series on OTT. The original language of the series is Malayalam. It is currently available in seven other languages, including the dubbed Hindi version at Disney Plus Hotstar.
Filmed against a rural backdrop, the series takes you to the late 1980s era, a time of simplicity devoid of money, employment, and mobile connectivity. But people did have vision and yearned for bigger things. Therefore, knowingly and sometimes unknowingly, they choose the wrong path to achieve their goals. Nagendran’s Honeymoons is one such story of a middle-aged man who strives to make his life better.
Other essential details of Nagendran’s Honeymoons web series are listed below:
| Details | Description |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Written by | Nithin Renji Panicker |
| Directed by | Nithin Renji Panicker |
| Starring | Suraj Venjaramoodu as Narendran, Alexandar Prashanth as Soman, Alphy Panjikaran as Jaanaki, Grace Antony as Lillikutty, Shweta Menon as Laila Sulthana, Niranjana Anoop as Saavithri, Kani Kusruti as Thangam, Ammu Abhirami as Mozhi, Kalabhavan Shajohn |
| Music by | Ranjin Raj |
| Country of origin | India |
| Original language | Malayalam |
| Dubbed Language | Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Cinematography | Nikhil S Praveen |
| Executive producer | Sanjay Padiyoor |
| Editor | Mansoor Muthutty |
| Running time | 30 to 35 minutes (Each episode) |
| IMDb Rating | 5.9/10 |
| Production company | Renji Panicker Entertainment |
| OTT Platform | Disney Plus Hotstar |
| OTT release date | 19 July 2024 |
Nagendran’s Honeymoons Synopsis
Nagendran’s Honeymoons story starts in a small town, where our main protagonist, Nagendran, lives with his mother in a shabby little house. He is a poor, lazy guy who simply has no ambitions in life or any intentions to make it better. He sleeps the whole day, and when he does wake up, his only concern is indulging in some delicious food.
As is often the case with adults, he does not smoke, drink, or show any interest in women. He genuinely lacks interest in any form of activity. He spends his time wandering here and there, or at the local tea shop. His friend, Soman, from the same village, makes milk deliveries to the same tea shop. They sit and talk over tea every now and then.
Soman is also an actor and artist for a local drama group. He also does match making to earn some extra bucks as per his convenience. On one such occasion, Soman invites Nagendran to accompany him to a match making meet. Lazy Nagendran was hesitant, but as soon as he got to know that biryani would be served at the meet, he immediately agreed. This was the basic daily itinerary of Shri Nagendran, and somehow, life was moving at its own pace.
The next day, Soman informs him that their common friend Paulus, who has been working in Kuwait, has come home on leave, and he intends to visit them. Therefore, both Soman and Nagendran visited him in the evening. His grand lifestyle immediately captivated Nagendran. Paulus assured Nagendran that he would help him find a decent job in Kuwait. In the meantime, Paulus got married to a girl from a respectable family.
Soon, the day approached for Paulus to return, but then he told his friends that he no longer wished to return to Kuwait. He has already saved some money from his job and plans to request dowry money from his wife’s family to establish a business in Kerala.
With this, Nagendran’s chances of moving to Kuwait seemed grim. But Paulus reassured that he has made all the necessary arrangements for his trip to Kuwait. He only needs to arrange some money for his visa that would cost him around sixteen to seventeen thousand rupees, which was indeed a big amount those days.
Though Nagendran was a lazy fella, this time he was adamant about moving out. As a result, he asked his mother to borrow money from someone in the village. His mother drove him away for making undue demands. Soman comforted Nagendran, reassuring him that he still has hope and that they can arrange the necessary cash, as long as he consents to marry Jaanaki. They can use the money received as a marriage dowry to make the initial arrangements for the visa.
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This was a difficult call for Nagendran to make since he has known the girl for a long time. Ultimately, Nagendran accepted Soman’s proposal. Soon after the marriage he got to know that his in-laws were not in a position to pay any dowry money, which meant no cash was coming home. And to his utter surprise, his mother was aware of all this before the marriage got solemnised. The next day, Nagendran confronted Soman and blamed him for the mismatch. Soman assured him that he would make everything good.
Given the fact, that the marriage to Jaanaki had not yielded any financial benefits, Soman persuaded the innocent Nagendran to leave the marriage, as he had arranged a new bride for him in a different village. The bride’s family is also ready to pay a hefty dowry to their prospective son-in-law. Nagendran, driven by his desire for financial gain, agreed to marry Lillikutty. What he didn’t know was that the girl had mental issues.
And then the marriage was solemnised. Soon after the marriage, he pleaded with Soman to get him out of this mess as early as possible. Soman asked Nagendran to make a run as soon as he got hold of the dowry cash. However, getting out of this house would not have been straightforward, since Lillikutty never let him go out of her sight.
As a result, he had to deceive the Lillikutty family into believing that a family member had passed away, thereby requiring him to attend the funeral service. And the idea worked. However, the money that they got hold of was not enough to cover the visa costs.
Therefore, Soman arranged a third marriage for Nagendran in a different city at a mass marriage ceremony held by the Muslim community. His local contacts helped him find a new identity for Nagendran. However, just before marriage solemnization, both Soman and Nagendran observed that the bride, Laila, was not an ordinary girl. In fact, she had recently defeated some aggressive men who had attempted to attack her. That sent chills down Nagendran’s spine, and now he fears for his own life.
Hence, as soon as the marriage got solemnised, he asked her about the previous day’s fight incident on their first night, and she confided in him her life’s tragedies. Knowing the dangers of staying with Laila, Nagendran stole whatever he could and fled the scene with Soman the same night.
Now, slowly and steadily, both Nagendran and Soman were getting used to this new routine. Each passing episode made them more confident. Neither of them exhibited any remorse for their actions. They were simply going forward with the idea of collecting money to finance Nagendran’s visa application. They then moved on to their next target in a new village.
Nagendran’s Honeymoons fourth wife would be Saavithri. She’s a petite young girl who fell in love with her class teacher, which resulted in her getting pregnant. In order to prevent her from facing shame or becoming a social outcast in the village, her father decided to marry her to Nagendran as soon as possible, before her belly began to swell. He would also pay the groom’s dowry when requested.
Meanwhile, Lillikutty’s brother, who was a policeman, had come to know about the modus operandi of Nagendran and Soman. Consequently, he began his search for them. This prompted him to inquire about them at the Muslim mass marriage ceremony function site. He then learned that they had moved on to their next victim.
In the meantime, Nagendran got married to Saavithri in a low-key ceremony. He could easily see in Saavithri’s eyes that she was not ready for this marriage. Finally, the day came for him to run again. At the deepest dark hour of the night, he started to move out of the house, but suddenly he saw that Saavithri was trying to commit suicide by hanging, and Nagendran saved her.
While she gathered her senses, she observed that Nagendran was trying to flee from the house. But, instead of getting angry, she helped him run out of her house. For a moment, they looked at each other’s eyes without uttering a single word and then Nagendran vanished from the scene. He reached for the hotel where Soman was staying, and after collecting their belongings, they skillfully made their exit without paying the hotel bills.
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From this location, they proceeded to a different village, where Soman had arranged a new match for Nagendran. This time, the male members of the village have collected the dowry amount for the bride, as she is not an ordinary bride. In fact, she was the most sought-after sex worker in the village. Perhaps the idea behind her marriage was to send a positive message to the community and the wives of local males, ensuring that their husbands would no longer hang around Thangam’s house now that she was happily married. But it happened just the opposite.
Thangam, on the other hand, wanted a husband to prove to the village people that she too could have a normal life and a healthy family, however, her job remained the same. Nagendran was unable to leave the marriage this time, as he had to remain in the village for a minimum of one month to receive the dowry amount. So he lived with Thangam, and she took excellent care of him, serving delicious food day in and day out. While Nagendran didn’t interfere with her job as a sex worker.
When the time came for Nagendran to leave, he quickly grabbed his luggage while his wife was in the middle of a client’s session. Both Soman and Nagendran hurriedly went to catch the boat. Unfortunately, Nagendran came face-to-face with Lillikutty’s brother, who had just disembarked from the same boat, and he caught hold of them. After a bit of a struggle, they managed to escape from him, but Nagendran became extremely upset and terrified. He realised that his actions would someday put him behind bars. He held Soman responsible for all the misdeeds.
However, the expressive Soman convinced Nagendran to have one last marriage, and then they would have enough money for the visa. This time, it was Mozhi. Her father admitted having last-stage cancer, and he wanted to get her daughter married before he died. They finalised the dowry amount and set the marriage date.
The marriage was solemnised peacefully. But Nagendran was not pleased with how things were going. Deep in his heart, he was both petrified and ashamed of himself for destroying so many lives. All of a sudden, his conscience has risen and was not allowing him to proceed further.
In the evening after marriage, while he and Soman were celebrating, he got too much to drink. In his drunken state, he cursed and schooled Soman, saying that he would no longer be his puppet. He would reveal to Mozhi all the details of how he had deceived numerous families for dowry money.
Nagendran wasn’t pretending and he dead serious to disclose everything. That night, he revealed to Mozhi all the misdeeds they had mutually committed. Mozhi calmly acknowledged his words and promised that if he remained loyal to her, they could still have a family together.
Following this, Nagendran fell asleep, only to awaken in the morning. He notices that Mozhi and his father are not present. The whole house was empty. Abruptly, he dashed into the house to inspect his possessions, and to his complete astonishment, he realised he had fallen victim to deceit.
The next moment, he saw Lillikutty’s brother, the policeman, waiting outside the house with his two-wheeler. Through his presence, he learned that the bride was actually Soman’s wife. Technically, it was Soman, his beloved friend, who had ditched him. Nagendran accepted his wrongdoings and was ready to serve his term in jail. However, the policeman took him to his home.
On his way home, Nagendran saw his neighbours laughing at him. Now, he understood why they were laughing at him, as he could see each of his five wives waiting for him at the doorstep. He stood there and looked back as if he were wondering whether staying here would be a good decision or whether going to jail was better. The story ends here, for viewers to decide as to what happens next.
Nagendran’s Honeymoons Review
This Nithin Renji-directed web series is well written, but the episodes are extremely slow-paced. The show gives you a Malgudi Days vibe, which we used to watch in our childhood years. However, the slow pacing of the episodes can be understood as the series is set against the backdrop of the 1970s era, a time when life was relatively easy going.
Some scenes in Nagendran’s Honeymoons didn’t fit the plot, the direction could have been better. I believe the story simply depicted Nagendran’s marriage to a sex worker to add a humorous touch. His marriage to Mozhi also didn’t add up to the conman theme, which was the core of the whole web series. The background score aligned well with the historical period of the story.
Each of the six episodes is named after the conned female characters in the web series. The character selection is commendable, as each character effectively fulfils their respective roles. But the character that stands out is Nagendran, the main protagonist. He defined the innocence of people living in those days. Though he was a totally confused person, he held no grudges against anybody, nor did he intend to harm anyone. It was only the circumstances that put him in this questionable position.
The cinematography of Nagendran’s Honeymoons deserves a mention, as every single frame looks fascinating and a visual treat to our eyes.
Nagendran’s Honeymoons Conclusion
The web series is a well-presented story of a conman who used his closest friend’s trust for his personal gain. Though the episodes are slow-paced, it’s still a wholesome entertainer. You can definitely watch it once. Any age group can enjoy watching Nagendran’s Honeymoons. It has that feel-good factor when most of today’s web series are filled with violence and coarse language. It’s fresh, new, and well written content from a renowned Malayalam cinema director. So do watch it once and share your views in the comment section below.
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