Anniyan – He who comes from Hell!

Yes, I finally saw the most awaited movie of the year. After so many delays in release dates, after so much hype b’coz of the money spent, after lot of speculations about the story…the one question that came to my mind immediately after seeing the movie - was Shankar’s “Anniyan” worth all that???

Well, to begin with, my only expectation from the movie was, “Will Director Shankar be able to bring out the BEST from an amazing actor like Vikram?” And I have to say that my expectation was fulfilled beyond words. Though Vikram got a “National Award” for Pithamagan, I somehow felt, that movie was not his best. Nobody could actually relate to the character of Vikram in that movie. I could see more of Bala than Vikram in that character. Well, that’s a totally a different topic of discussion.

Coming back to “Anniyan”, the story, though interesting, is not convincing. The main reason being, it is inspired from several other movies. To mention a few, the style of killing and writing a note from “Seven”, Time Slicing fight sequence from “Matrix”, MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) from “Tell me your dreams” by Sidney Sheldon and not to forget, punishing people who do not do their duty from his own “Indian”. It is very difficult to appreciate the story ignoring these inspirations.

The star cast in the movie was well chosen by the director except the female lead. I felt Sada was a total misfit in the movie. May be I am just being partial here b’coz I personally don’t like her, but I could not come up with even one scene where she did a commendable job. Vivek’s comedy was awesome and it was good to see him after a long time. Prakash Raj, as usual, delivered his job well. I felt Nasser was wasted in such a small role. Anybody cud have given the explanation for MPD, we definitely don’t need a versatile actor like Nasser for that. Another major let down was music by HJ. The songs itself were mediocre and the background score was also not worth mentioning. I definitely missed ARR-Shankar combo.

So coming back to my first question, “Anniyan” is definitely worth a watch for one factor - VIKRAM. It was Vikram all the way in the movie; from start to end, frame by frame. He has done a wonderful job as a person affected by MPD. The hospital scene and the fight sequence between him & Prakash Raj were the best of the lot. He has beautifully enacted three totally different characters, "Ambi, Remo & Anniyan", with ease. His facial expressions and voice modulation for the characters was awesome. As always, he has done his homework well for this film also. My full credits to him. To put it in simple words, “Anniyan” sans Vikram, would have been a total disaster.