Anniyan - Psychotic Frenzy
Media with thanks from Nowrunning.com
S. Shankar's career as a director has been one of profiligate interchangability. The trend continues in his new film Anniyan. Playing on the sentimentalities of the audience Shankar has always carved up interesting stories about a vigilante alone on the "mean streets" through his movies Mudhalvan and Indian. Boys was a change for the director but sensing the commercial failure has come back to terrority he firmly knows. Anniyan in many ways is a reflection of both Indian and Mudhalvan but it simply can't stand up to the towering presence of the septuagenarian in the Kamal Haasan starrer.
More or less, Anniyan is a high tech extravaganza on the lines of Aalavandan (Abhay in Hindi) but it fails to form a piece of hallucinogenic art either, in trying to blend the best of the both worlds Anniyan turns out to be an enjoyable, entertaining film that has flashes of brilliance but lacks the heart of Indian.
Known for his lavishness in directing a film it can now be said that Anniyan (disregarding the god awful graphics for the website) is the single most technically advanced film produced in India - yes Aalavandan has finally been overshadowed in this respect. Shankar pulls out all the stops including Time Slicing mechanism, Matrix style stunts (indeed some seem to be heavily influenced) and some rather georgeous camera ramping. However no film can work just on technical merits alone - it needs a strong screenplay backed with powerful acting from all concerned. It is in the last two criteri that Anniyan stumbles.
The story is very similar to Indian or any of Shankar's other patriotic films but the screenplay goes haywire this time around. 3 Characters to compliment the Anniyan name yet there are only 2 real characters, poignant moments are there in plentiful - yet none of them are poignant. A denoumont is present yet it solves nothing. An example of a sentimental yet ultimately powerless scene is the Nehru stadium sequences where Anniyan lashes out at the country - this is scene is so similar to Kamal shouting "lanjam" 5000 times in the QTV station yet has none of the effect. Loopholes are in abundance - how does Ambi contact with Anniyan so many times without the presence of a computer?
Ultimately it seems, we have no compelling reason to support Anniyan, who is just a killing machine. He has no pathos, no ethos and no qualitative compulsion to be on his side - he seems like a mad man hell bent upon destruction and nothing else. Garudapuram style punishments lend a mythological side to the film and just as it seems its going to get interesting the screenplay again shifts focus - no explanation of these purana's are given and no plausible reason as to why they are being used. Childhood trauma (another Aalavandan parallel) is blamed for Ambi's MPD - so how does that explain the Remo character? Too many loose ends and no logical conclusions.
Acting wise Vikram pulls in another memorable outing. After his undertaker role he fits snuggly into the role of another undertaker! As Ambi Vikram really shines bringing out the timid yet steadfast nature of his character, keeping his voice ostensibly higher and looking spic and span - Ambi is terrific to watch. At age 45, Vikram must be commended for his role as Remo which he pulls off with panache. He must also be commended for his wonderful turn during the stunt sequences as Anniyan. Hard work has gone into the physical manifestations he goes through. Vikram however isn't good enough to make us support him as Anniyan - he displays his vengeful nature with perfect poise but doesn't back it up with reasons. Just moving his eyes around and wearing plenty of facial make up isnt enough for me to support him. He displays no plausibility in his actions - just that - action.
The supporting cast bar Vivek is absolutely pathetic. Sada as the heroine is glamorous but cannot act. In such a film she lends a great deal of artificiality and ultimately these touches discredit the film. Prakash Raj turns out to be good in his role - its just his role is so cliched, so irritating and ultimately undermining that its impossible to like his performance. As the psychiatric doctor, Nasser does an adequate job. Vivek, however takes the crown he rightfull owns for best comedian straight back from Vadivelu. He brings a wonderful charm in the comical sections and displays genuine seriousness in the latter stages of the movie.
Dialogues by Sujatha fit the film very well - especially the comparisons to the Indian cricket team and the "anju paise" lines. Music by Harris Jeyaraj is pitiful. Barring the Kadhal Yannai song, his music is irritating and his background music even more so. Every cliche from the timpani role to the shreiking violins is in position and one can wonder what a great job A R Rahman would have done to elevate this movie.
Ultimately Anniyan is a generally mediocre film which has shades of brilliance and conversely shades of amateurism in the mix. Its message is strong and fitting the social climate of India at the present stage, by the success of the film its timing is impeccable - unfortunately the film is not.
This entry was posted by Blogpur, on
Friday, July 15, 2005.
You can leave your response.
12:34 PM
people are very lazy.
12:36 PM
one man died because of others carelessness.People do not have unity.
10:33 AM
Oh, I agree with you on that.
8:41 PM
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