Anniyan Entertains
27 crores is a hell lot of money. And in Shankar’s hands, it was bound to come out as a swashbuckling thrill ride... And it does.
Take a bow, Shankar...
The plot
The story is a cut paste from numerous movies, but of course, the on screen representation has that dazzling brilliance you assosciate with Shankar.
Ambi (Vikram) is a lawyer - who ties his hair in a kudumi, and goes around with Raktha chandana paste on his forehead, helpless to do anything against the everyday crimes that happen all around him. And when he responds, all he gets is jeers and kicks from the world. The suppressed anger in him surfaces as an alter ego - Anniyan (Reminds of me myself and Irene)
Anniyan is a guy who dresses in all black, and rolls his eyeballs at the wrong doers from behind a layer of hair that falls on his face (looks like the undertaker of WWF), and talks with a voice that seems to come from inside a well. He believes he is the incarnation of Chitragupta. Anniyan refers to a website, where people post complaints against tyrants and the scum of the society, and he picks his targets based on these complaints (reminds of 4 students). He gives the same gruesome treatments mentioned in Garuda purana, which they are bound to get in hell, for the kind of wrongs they do...
Enter Nandini (Sada) - Ambi’s one way love. Ambi proposes to her parents (he thinks proposing to the girl is a sin!) and they agree. But Nandini refuses, saying Ambi was too perfect, like a calculator or a log table... And he is heart broken, and again the lover in him resurfaces as another character- Remo. With hair dyed brown, blue contact lenses, and who looks nowhere like Ambi (Great job, makeup man!!!). Needless to say, Nandini falls in love with Remo.
Remo, who talks English as if he has a hot potato in his mouth, and calls Nandini ’’Naanti, my babe’’, is IRRITATING, to say the least. But I think it is a deliberate attempt by Shankar to give a poke at the tastes of the modern day youth. At the guys for being so naive, and at girls who, given a choice of sweet well mannered guys like Ambi, and some idiot who thinks calls himself metrosexual, chooses the latter.
Ambi doesnt know what Remo or Anniyan does... He is heart broken that Nandini is in love with someone else, and starts a laid back life... What happens to the life of Ambi when Remo goes around sending flowers to Nandini and Anniyan goes around killing people the same way they are supposed to be tortured in hell? I’m not spoiling the fun... Go watch it...
The Cast
Vikram is just brilliant. The movie brings out the best from the capable actor. The scenes where he rapidly switches seamlessly between Ambi, Remo and Anniyan, makes people stand up and applaud. Sada--- oh mu god... My poor heart aches when I recall her face. Maan, I’m hopelessly in love with her... Vivek plays a cameo once again, and sends people rolling over, laughing. Prakash Raj is also excellent, but could have been used more.
Soundtrack
Another great plus of the movie are the songs- ’Kumari’ is brilliantly shot in Amsterdam, ’Iyengaru veetu’ reminds you of ’Anbae anbae kollathe’ from Jeans. ’Kadhal yannai’ is a great footstamping number, but the choreography could have been better. But the last two songs are class apart as far as picturization and rhtyhm are concerned. Kannum kannum nokkial presents a breath-taking performance from Sada and the best looks of Vikram in the movie. Andangakka is the best picturized, and the choreography is amazing... In short- the movie is worth
watching for the songs alone...
Action
The stunts are also breathtaking(but the best of them is lifted as it is from Matrix reloaded) The movie is fast paced, you wouldnt feel bored for most of the three hours. There are some parts that drag a bit, at points where the psychiatrists explain Ambi’s Schizophrenia
Summing up, I would say, the movie ENTERTAINS. Watch it just for the entertainment value, and forget the rest... Of course, you could always take inputs from what Anniyan says to the public, but even if you dont follow any of that, you will have to suffer the torments for the same only after you go to hell ...