’’Anniyan, ’’ Shankar’s much-awaited movie is out finally, after unprecedented delays.
And he doesn’t disappoint us. Although not in the same league as his earlier movies, Gentleman, Indian or Mudhalvan, Anniyan’s protagonist Ramanujam (Vikram) is every bit as idealistic and patriotic as the other three. And audiences can draw quite a comparison between Indian and Anniyan, the basic premise is almost identical! I think Shankar just threw these three movies through a blender, added some SFX and came up with Anniyan.
Shankar has always tried to be avant-garde even while making formulaic commercial potboilers. The stunts are spectacular, although they borrow heavily from the Matrix (not again!) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. However, the director displays seminal creativity in the picturisation of certain scenes, particularly the one where a herd of buffaloes chase down a man on a mountain range. That was a spectacular scene, well-conceived and well-implemented.
As for the story, it’s not very different from his earlier movies – an idealistic young man working to change the system, a one-man army striving to erase corruption and making the country a better place. There is just one minor twist, which audiences can guess right after 20 minutes into the movie.
Music by Harris Jeyraj is breezy not brilliant. The Remo number is catchy and a couple of Carnatic melodies are pleasing to the ear. However, the lyrics to some of these songs are just unbearable. Get this: ’’Nee than Nokia, cappuccino coffeea, Sofia’’ or some gibberish like that! The lyrics to the Nokia song make ’’Telephone Manipol” from Indian sound like Kannadasan songs! And what’s with all the blatant product placing, please! In-your-face plugs for Nokia, Knorr and countless other products. Shankar is selling out like Subhash Ghai. Can’t blame him though, his last film ’’Boys’’ didn’t have a good outing and he has to recoup his losses. And the background score is haunting, however it sounds almost like the music of the Elves from “The Lord of the Rings”!
Vikram has done a decent job; his various get-ups are interesting. I personally liked him with permed hair and blonde highlights. However as the idealistic Iyengar lawyer, his acting seemed a little strained. Vivek, as his sidekick and comic relief, is good. Although most of his jokes are played, he can still bring the house down with his awesome comic timing. Prakash Raj as the police chief and Nasser as the psychiatrist just walk through their roles with consummate ease. But the CSI-type scenes with Prakash Raj and Nasser’s psychobabble looked amateurish (LOL).
As for the heroine Sada, she is quite sad-a. She has neither the talent nor the drop-dead oomph to have any impact on the audience. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer actresses who can ACT a bit and AT LEAST render their own dialogue! The dubbing industry is thriving because these actresses can’t mouth a single line in the movie they are the lead actors in, yet hope that awards will come to them! If they cannot speak a language, how the hell are they going to act? Well, we know the truth, they don’t. They just add to the glamour (??) quotient. The producers/directors must be blamed for this mess. Tamil and Telugu film industries are filled with non-speakers who neither understand the nuances of the language nor try hard enough to lip-sync convincingly. And then they go to town talking about how women don’t get substantial roles in the industry! This trend must go! Producers/directors stop signing on heroines based on their vital statistics, please! Have an actual audition!
I liked the movie just for its conviction and belief in a near-perfect world, although I don’t necessarily agree with the extreme measures the hero resorts to! Although the issues are not of the same magnitude that we have seen in other movies, Shankar justifies it in the end. The writing in the last scene at the stadium is particularly good and thought-provoking. When an audience member asks the Anniyan character why people should be killed for small mistakes, he replies, we continue to make these mistakes because we know we cannot be killed for such small offences!
One interesting thing was the references to the Bhagavad Gita and Garuda Puranam and at the same time dressing the hero like the Grim Reaper!! Something like Kamsa’s-slaying meets Judgment Day!!! Hurrah for Anniyan, it’s worth a watch!