Reviewer's Summary - Interesting
Language: Tamil
Year: 2005
Actors: Vikram, Sada, Vivek, Nedumudi Venu, Prakash Raj, Nasser
Director: Shankar
Producer: V.Ravichandran
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Story & Screenplay: Shankar
Lyics: Vairamuthu, Kanilan, NA.Muthukumar
Dialogs: Sujatha
Anniyan is that rare Tamil movie with more highs than lows.
An unusual theme, fine acting and reasonable music make for a pleasant couple of hours in front of the screen.
Ramanujam a.k.a Ambi (Vikram) is such a stickler for rules that even the slightest deviation from the law or duty by others sends him into paroxysms of rage. As a lawyer, Ambi is engaged in filing cases on behalf of the less privileged sections of society, cases that he usually ends up losing to the law-breakers. Such is his obsession for going by the book that he is ridiculed in the court as "Rules Ramanujam."
However, our Ambi, he with the hair tied back in a knot like the Brahmins of yore, has a romantic side as well. Secretly, this Iyengar Brahmin has been in love with his charming neighbor Nandini (Sada) for several years. Although voluble when it comes to rules, Ambi turns taciturn when it comes to love. He just cannot summon the courage to tell Nandhini of his deep love for her.
When Ambi finally musters the courage to tell Nandini, she dismisses his proposal summarily. You see, having seen his straitlaced practices at close quarters, Nandini finds Ambi a boring and unromantic creature. A distraught Ambi even contemplates suicide but decides against it since suicide is against the law!
The pressures of living in a society that has scant respect for the law and spurned love soon take a heavy toll - Ambi develops multiple personality disorder. Two other personalities come to life within Ambi - Remo, a romantic character that soon has Nandini under his spell and Anniyan, a fierce figure that metes out brutal deaths to the lawbreakers of society.
Both, the exotic Remo and the violent Anniyan, are effective in achieving their goals and provide a stark contrast to the ineffectual bovine-natured Ambi.
The highlight of this movie is a stellar performance by Vikram in all three roles - Ambi, Remo and Anniyan. But it's the image of the Iyengar lawyer Ambi with that Brahminical Tamil dialect and constantly agitated over lack of discipline and respect for law that lingers long after you leave the auditorium.
Sada is all right but doesn't set the stage afire. Vivek provides some superfluous comedy.
While certainly not outstanding, the music is not bad either. Our favorite song were Iyengaaru Veetu Azhage, a dance-song sequence with Vikram and Sada, Kaadhal Yaanai and Oh Sukumari.
The action scenes were quite crude at times. But that's a small cavil in an otherwise entertaining movie.
Director Shankar deserves kudos for treading new ground in Anniyan although he doesn't completely break out of the straitjacket of the love story, that idee fixe of most Indian films. - Copyright SearchIndia.com.
|
