'Goat life' hero is Najeeb, not Shukoor; Benyamin hits back at critics over Aadujeevitham issue

‘Aadujeevitham’, the latest movie from Malayalam, surging ahead to become yet another classic, is now running in packed theatres all across Kerala and outside. The high élan over the movie's success is suddenly being affected by certain social media posts that have criticised writer Benyamin, the writer of the original novel, for skewing details from the novel and not including this in the movie adaptation. Many pointed out that these ‘omissions’ have largely spoiled the soul of the story.

Benyamin:

It has thus happened to me to again clarify something that I repeatedly talked about some 20 years back. The hero of my story is Najeeb, not Shukoor. Najeeb is my creation and I have added many people’s plight into the character. ‘Goat Life’ is not Shukoor’s story, it is my novel, my creation. Shukoor’s story makes up only 30% of the whole movie. This is not a biography, and some people are fretting after not knowing whether the scenes were real happenings churned out from Shukoor’s life.

I can make this clear; whatever is written in the novel my creation, please leave Shukoor alone. If you have any doubts regarding the novel, feel free to ask me but not anyone else.

‘Aadujeevitham’ real-life hero Najeeb is known as Shukoor among his close circles. Benyamin has now suggested that Najeeb from Aadujeevitham is the writer's fictional creation and the movie is not a biopic of Shukoor, unlike the media-weaved stories.