Howdy,
First things first..... Overall a roller coaster ride for the Tamil Movie Goer. Shankar should be definitely credited for this masterpiece.
The movie had built-up so much of hype due to many a reason..some not so comfortable.....
a) Boys had brought in a lot of reputation damage for Shankar.
b) Shankar, splitting up with ARRahman and teaming with Harris Jeyaraj....for the first time in his 10+ years of cinema....
c) A huge gap of 2 years for Shankar..filled with expectations.
d) Teaming with Vikram, who had become a top grosser product by the time the movie was made....expectations were literally sky-high for this supposedly Social entertainer...
e) Adding to all these were the initial promos, showing Vikram in various make-overs....each one, exiciting...
Every Tamil movie buff waited for this one to arrive...and it finally arrived on the scene on 17th June 2005....
The movie starts off with the "I Hate Disorder", Rules Ramanujam....that 3 word sentence really summed up the character's sketch...nothing more would have been needed. I would say, I really enjoyed the first hour more so, because I was able to relate to his idealogy though I would be grossly against the ideology, if I say I am able to follow all of his ideas..;-)....but nevertheless, a forthright stickler to principles...a very good make-over to match his ideology...I would say.. each of his experience could have happened to any of us in our day-to-day life...so realistic were they, that I got completely engrossed into the plot and started to sympathise for Ambi...
Each of his experience, leading him to the www.anniyan.com website was interesting stuff. One definite applause should be for the they were able to visualize the search technology through graphics, it could have easily been a straight serach result display, but hatz off to sujataha and Shankar for visualizing the web search, which is definitely new to the general public. The interesting and skillfull use of Special effects and graphics are the high points of the movie, which really adds to the fizz of the movie....and lights up the viewer's mind with Joy... Appreciable work.
What should one comment of Vikram- the Real Life Saga..now turning into a perfect story line for a new movie...;-)...or an epic should I say....One is left wondering how much of vikram we would have seen if he were given the right break 15 years back..???? anyways...on to the maincourse.... he was simply stunning. Be it looks, dialogue delivery, facial expressions, the homework he has done for each of the roles...his screen persona....wowwww....I am getting excited....
He gets acrosss as a clear stickler to rules..in Ambi's role...much to the chagrin of one and all..including his lady love, Sada...aka..nandhini....
He is absolutely kewl...in REMO...the Ramp walk model...dudes..have u ever seen a more handsome tamil hero, who hits your heart straight with that One song sequence, Kaadhal Yaanai.....I would say that role fitted him just like the fairytale story's charcters.....so kewl was his outlook , that you almost mistoook him for an american dude....;-)
Anniyan...the Society Saviour...this character though having clear traces of SENAPATI, the old man, you would get to the seat edges with each of his encounters....such was the excitement generated.... It is clearly evident why, Vikram did not accept any other movie offer until Anniyan was completed...So much is the intensity involved in each role, that you would do injustice to these roles, if given step-motherly treatment....Think of the number of heroes who would do this.....not even a handful.....:-)
The story and screenplay....looks like shankar decidedly took a clear subject and carved it as a winner all through... One cannot withhold the skillful and deft handling of the storyline, esp.. the screenplay..logical reasoning for each turning point....Shankar has learnt his basics right...I should say... The Garuda Puranam as the guiding factor is a good feature addition for the strong social message that the film tries to convey.... Each endeavor and encounter of Anniyan are meaningful and would have happened to most of us... The MPD...has been given clear and lucid treatment which wasn't the case with many earlier tamil movies....perfectly logical and reasonable, that I felt that even I and you would have these personlities within ourselves....what say????
SONGS....I hope by now this article is getting too predictable....but cant help it....:-)...The songs 5 in number have elevated song sequences to an all time new high, which would be unreachable by any indian cinema for quite some time, simply beacause of the fact that, nobody else puts in so much of effort into songs...which Shankar does painstakingly and I belive he loves that...... Each having a theme, and not being thrust into the movie are definite plusses....
Kumari.....visually stunning,
Ayyangaaru veetu ..... artistically beautifulll.....
Kaadhal Yaanai ...... All about Yana Gupta and Vikram...the song seems to have run through in jiffy...so fast and peppy...
Kannum Kannum Nokia ..... Wow....can Sada look more better ever...???? Terrific locations from Kuala Lampur Airport.....
Randakka Randakka .... A true folklore....feel....They have painted government roads and bridges for this sequence...shows how far people can go for their passion towards their cinema....:-)
Sujatha...I am wondering if he reallly deserves the age he is ...??? He is so young and refreshing in his dialogues that people who dont know Sujatha...the writer...will be pleasantly surprised to meet the original sujatha....I loved so many clinchers and snippets nicely interspersed with the other wise heavily loded subject.... the "mooku oootai mathiri veedu" ....the "nee oru nasai" ... " I hate Disorder"....the sarcastic Vivek's interludes....so many and so little space to write...I have really started to await movies with Sujatha's expertise...
It is not true that Like Poles REPEL.......... Like minded people like Shankar, Sujatha and Vikram will always jel and when in unison can give you something like Anniyan....thats the talent levels KollyWood can boast of...
One can say, only Shankar could have given such a once-in-life-time role for Vikram.... and
only Vikram could have given this refreshingly new and stellar performance for Shankar's brainchild ANNIYAN...
So its an out and out SHANKAR and VIKRAM COMBINE...which has taken a vow to give true and high quality entertainment and have done the STAND-AND-DELIVER to perfection.....
Thaanks to everyone..who have bared with my opinion so far....quite long ...in fact.....
now its time for you to head straight to the theatres..to watch this action flick....if you haven't seen it yet.....
or go on and see the movie a second time, if you have already seen this epic from Shankar like me......which is what I am gonna do this weekend....again...;-)
Bye,
Rajesh
