Hi Check out for a graphical review, here in my blog site.
https://dreamstores.blogspot.com/2005/06/anniyan-review.html
Now, it is out...
After the hype created by the movie team, media and audience, the expectations had soared too high for this movie. My expectations were also so high, since I am one among the hardcore fans of Shankar. I had never missed his movies, in the first few days. For a change, today I watched this movie on its first day, after a long gap of 15 years (I mean, first day visit). This is just because, I didn’t want to get influenced by the Net reviews and wanted to make a personal assessment.
Everyone of us know that this movie carried a strong social message and got appreciation from the Censor Board without any cuts. Is it living upto the expectations? Let us go thru... Being a much talked about movie, this is little bit lengthier.
The movie starts with the daily journey of ’Rules’ Ramanjum alias ’Ambi (continues.....)............
Strengths
1) Vikram excels well in his acting - particularly in the last encounter with Prakash Raj, where he shows different personalities continuously.
2) The Strong Message about the eradication of Society’s Irresponsible behaviour, with few thoughtful & hilarious dialogues from Sujatha. As in ’Indian’, Shankar is refering to the growth of Singapore, Japan, korea etc., from their humble start.
3) Cinematography always gets great importance in Shankar’s movies. Both RaviVerman and Manikandan have not failed the audience expectations.
But, alas.. Weaknesses / Unwanted elements are more (in my perception)
1) Being in Production for more than one year, might have put so much pressure on Shankar & team. The expectations were also up among the audience, including me. But, the jumping screenplay has failed to impress me. Let me refer to few instances.
There were ’n’ number of places where people could have informed the Police about ’anniyan’ when they see both ’ambi’ & ’anniyan’ personalities at the same time. (like some rowdies, the Saba Secretary etc., ). They don’t do it. Why?
In one scene, Vivek sends ’Remo’ inside Sada’s room. There the personality changes to ’Ambi’. When Vivek enters the room later, he never even raises a question. How come, Shankar & Sujatha? ..... big disappointment.
Where from ’Anniyan’ is getting so much money to make a stage show to present his views? He advertises & pastes posters everywhere and meets press & public in a big stadium. There are no scenes showing public support openly, like it was for ’Indian’ thaathaa. Is it implied and did the public organise such a mega show?
Eventhough Naasar & Sada realise the dangerous potential of ’Anniyan’, nothing is being informed to the Police. Are they deciding to manage such a dangerous character on their own?
2) The love blossoming between Sada & ’Remo’ personality is so immediate. She starts loving him as soon as he does some childish / comical gimmicks with the flowers, Moon & Stars, without knowing his background facts. So, my heart doesn’t go for her love sequences. I missed those emotional love blossoming sequences of ’Jeans’ & ’Boys’ here.
3) The Big Freeze Time Slice method used for the fight sequences is pretty long. In ’Boys’ this technique was wonderful when the flowers/Characters were shot in ’ale ale’ song. Here, this technique makes the audience to laugh when 15 stuntmen float around in the air for nearly 5-10 seconds. Even the matrix style stunt sequences could have been reduced.
Rajini succeeded in talking about ’MPD’ in his Chandramukhi. But, that was only for the last 30 minutes. Otherwise, the Fans got what they wanted from Rajini. But handling such a difficult subject even before the movie’s ’intermission’, is tricky. Eventhough, Shankar’s regular crowd is from ’A’ centre, I doubt whether ’A’ centre audience can take it this time. The reason is that he conveyed all these messages already in ’Gentleman’, ’Indian’ and ’Mudhalvan’.
So, what else is new here? Just a cocktail - mix Sambhar Vadai (’Ambi’ sequences) with Coke (flashy colorful song sequences - MTV type) & the special drink Cognac (’Anniyan’s hifi killings). If you like this cocktail, then taste it... I couldn’t digest, honestly.
’He who comes from Hell, is not afraid of hot ashes...’ This is the slogan of this movie. Vikram had come out of failures, several times earlier. Will this be like, ’Alavandhan’ for Kamal and ’Baba’ for Rajini? Or will it succeed commercially?
Sify, Rediff & Indiaglitz reviews are very much in favour of the movie. Only after finishing my review, I read them. Probably, you can tell me, after watching the movie, if I am too critical about this work. As these websites are claiming, if it becomes successful, I will also be happy for those involved in this mega project. (since so much money was involved in this project)