One of the main purposes of a movie is to engage and entertain. A director can choose which way to do it. He can make it very realistic or very pretentious but at the end of the day it should be worth the time and money. On that front, Anjathe comes as a fresh experience for a regular movie-goer and in that it engages the viewer for most part of it.
The film sets off right from the word ‘go’ when Sathya(Narain) fights it out against some local thugs for his best friend Kiruba(Ajmal Ameer). Kiruba’s ambition of being a sub-inspector is shattered whereas circumstances force Sathya to be one, however the latter does it by hook and crook which infuriates the earlier. The film revolves around how this jealously ruins their relationship thereby leading to an unexpected turmoil.
The first half of the movie primarily deals with the breakup of the bonding between the two protagonists where Prasanna as Dhaya and Pandiarajan as Logu only make shadowy appearances never revealing their actual business. Quite logically, only after Sathya becomes a cop we get to know more about the ugly details of Dhaya and gang. From then on the film details how the good survives over evil and how one of the protagonists end up losing everything whereas the other elevates in stature.
The greatest strength of the film are the characterization and casting. The bonding between all the characters in the movie is well etched out. In fact everyone looks so apt for the role that you cannot figure out and say that one performed better than the other. However, Prasanna as Dhaya though impressive could have given a better look in the movie.
Having said all these, Anjathe lacks in pace for most part and at 3 hours and 10 minutes is quite lengthy. The slowness is understandable but not the endearing length. Towards the climax the viewer loses his patience a bit and when the protagonist uses his revolver the first time to gun down someone he had loved the most(justifying the title Anjathe), the necessary impact is somehow missing. The director tries to get into the details of every character and their relationship with the other which beyond a point is not acceptable in a movie(remember it is not a novel!). One weak point in the movie is the scene where the entire police department is mislead so easily by the villain but not an investigation officer who finds out the trap. This was quite amateurish. However the manner how the protagonist gets there is convincing.
Finally, Anjathe is a good value for money but don’t expect it to throw you off like a Mozhi or Paruthiveeran. However, it could have been a totally different film had it been shorter by atleast 40 minutes.