Anniyan Tamil Movie
Well. 'Anniyan' is no more an 'Anniyan'. After much hype and hoopla, 'Aanniyan' finally made its way to the theatres today. How much did we hear and talk about it - the project originally named 'Robot' and written with Kamal Hassan as the lead - the costliest movie made in south India - Vikram's best performance so far - Vikram's multiple character complexity - Harris Jayaraj taking the place of ARR. The movie did stir up lots of expectations, but did it live up to it?
The movie is about Ramanujam - an honest lawyer who is frustrated about the lack of discipline in the society and tries to do something about it, only to be mocked at and ridiculed by one and all. He expresses his love to his neighbor Nandhini - who finds him - not cool enough and boring. All these factors result in a multiple personality disorder out of which is born - Anniyan and Remo. Anniyan - the "Indian" type punisher of the bad, Remo - the cool lover boy. Anniyan goes about killing people who break the law while Remo goes about wooing Sada. The rest of the story is about how the police go on a hunt for Anniyan and how the three personalities are brought to the surface and dealt with.
Vikram has given an excellent performance. He is admirable as the naïve Ramanujam, violent as the punisher Anniyan and charming as the model Remo. Watch out for the scene where he alters between his personalities in a sequence. Even better is Prakash Raj's reaction to it. Sada is absolutely ravishing throughout the movie. A pleasing beauty, her feminine expressions and excellent costumes make her a sight to behold. She has delivered her part well. Vivek's comedy is good. He hasn't been his usual best in his recent movies. But 'Anniyan' should put him back in his spot. Prakash Raj as the police officer in hunt of 'Anniyan' gives a performance as expected from an actor of his caliber. Nazar, Nedumudi Venu and the rest of the cast have minor supporting roles, which they adorn with ease. The whole movie is centered on Vikram whose properly supported by the rest of the cast.
The movie is no doubt, technically brilliant - on par with Hollywood. Stunning visuals, breathtaking locales and costumes, grand sets, everything you would expect in a Shankar movie. Harris Jayaraj has done a good job with his instruments. The songs are more appealing with the video. The stunt scenes are shot well too. A fight sequence involving 50 professional fighters has scenes that remind you of Matrix. But I should say Shankar got a bit carried away by the technical stuff, the graphics in the movie has been slightly overused, taking things beyond the "believable" line.
Everything about the movie is great, except for one main ingredient. The story is centered around 2 main points - erasing corruption in the society and multiple personality disorder. Both of which have been exploited extensively in Tamil movies, especially the former in Shankar's own movies. Multiple personality disorder is something we have heard enough about - something as recent as in "Chandramukhi". One can't blame Shankar for it though - as the story was written a long time back. But in the gap between its evolution and actual birth - the storyline has been explored a lot by others.
Overall, the movie is a must watch - for Vikram's performance, Shankar's grandeur and for the long wait. Expect a typical Shankar's movie in terms of extravaganza but not in terms of screenplay and you wouldn't be disappointed. The movie is fast paced, action packed and well packaged. 'Anniyan' may fail to impress, but it sure does entertain.
