Anjaathey: Daring, Honest, Effective

At a time when Malayalam Cinema is struggling to come out of the mediocrity that it is deep rooted in, winds of change are blowing in Tamil Cinema. A large part of the credit for this should go to the welcome addition of young actors and technicians who are consolidating their position with every passing film of theirs. Mysskin is one director who hogged a lot of limelight with his maiden venture; the super duper hit “Chithiram Pesuthadi”. The movie was hailed as a purely director’s film which dealt with the age old story of reforming the ways of the leading man, but was told sensibly, sensitively and in a manner that was totally different from anything that was seen before in Kollywood. With his second offering “Anjaathey”, Mysskin proves that Chithiram was no shot in the arm. “Anjaathey” is the story of two friends- the carefree and happy go lucky Sathyavaan (Narain) and the very focused and hardworking Kirupakaran (Ajmal Ameer). Sathya and Kirupa are sons of police constables (M S Bhaskar and Livingston play the fathers respectively) and have grown up together in a colony. Kirupa is in love with Thara, Sathya’s sister. Kirupa’s sister, Uthra (Vijayalekshmy) holds the torch for Sathya. Kirupa is leaving no stone unturned to clear the Sub Inspector selection test while Sathya spends time with his friends in drinking and making merry. A chance incident at a bar introduces Sathya to Lokanathan (Pandiarajan) and his associate, Daya (Prasanna). Sathya invites them to a celebration at their colony and catches Daya while trying to molest Uthra. Sathya locks horns with Daya and earns his father’s wrath. Sathya decides that enough is enough and he also joins Kirupa in taking the Sub Inspector exam. Sathya clears the hurdles through recommendation from his uncle who is the Personal Assistant to a Minister while Kirupa loses out in the race. This causes a major rift between the two friends. A couple of years later, one finds Sathya as an honest and upright cop while Kirupa has taken to full time drinking out of disillusionment with life. At this juncture, Mysskin turns his attention to the kidnappers who take the Chennai city by storm. Their modus operandi is that they will kidnap teenage girls belonging to affluent families for ransom and would exchange the girls for money after sexually assaulting them a couple of times. Sathya is engaged in the trail of this gang and he manages to identify Lokanathan and Daya, the perpetrators of the crime. In the meantime, Daya befriends Kirupa and manages to pull him into the world of crime thus putting Sathya in a complete quandary. Whether Sathya fulfills his duties as an honest cop or whether he tries to save his friend from the world of crime is what the rest of the movie is about. The best thing about Anjaathey is that it cannot be classified as belonging to a genre. It is totally different from any other tamil movie made ever. It starts as a warm tale of friendship, proceeds to depict an honest cop and finally ends up showcasing a few cold blooded men engaged in the heinous crime of sexual harassment of women. The screenplay meanders from one aspect to the other effortlessly and at no point, the viewer feels exhausted or lost. Mysskin is adept as a director as well, what with his minimalist shots conveying more than words. There is very little verbose especially when the villains are projected and surprisingly, Daya remains largely in the background while the character’s shadow looms large in every frame creating resentment and bitterness in the viewer against him. Anjaathey is purely a director’s film and Mysskin is the most self- indulgent director to storm Kollywood since K Balachander. Anjaathey moves at its own pace and has a running time of around 170 minutes. Mysskin also manages to put in specific incidents that bring out the characteristics of his leading men. Watch out for the scene where Sathya finds a badly injured man fighting with death on the road and how with the help of an old lady he tries to save him. Also of significance is the scene where Prasanna places a mirror in between Vijayalakshmy’s legs when she is changing her clothes across the door and watches the reflection on all fours exhibiting an erotic ecstasy that disturbs the viewer. There are also disturbing scenes like the one where the kidnapped girl wrapped in a lungi is pushed out of the jeep right in the middle of the road and Sathya rushes to her and covers her up with his shirt. Also of significance is the scene where a gangster is killed by the police in an encounter in the presence of his school going son. Mysskin clearly does not mind disturbing the viewer while explicitly bringing out the nuances of his characters. The technical departments support Mysskin in all his endeavors. The Art director does a wonderful job in keeping things real. Editing is razor sharp. The Cameraman has a field day especially in canning the climax. Sundar K Babu’s music enhances the mood of the narrative. Sound is of avant garde quality. Pandiarajan gets to do some acting 20 years after “Aan Paavam”. Only when you watch him play Lokanathan, do you realize how under utilized he was all these years. Vijayalekshmy is an actress to watch out for, her unconventional looks and her unique acting style stands her out from the rest of the cast. M S Bhaskar and Livingston prove that they are regarded as veterans for no reason. The chocolate faced Prasanna has taken a big risk by accepting the role of Daya, who sparks hatred in the minds of the viewers from the very first scene. His characterization is clever and he has been given very little dialogues. His styling and costumes add to the villainy of his character. Prasanna does a clean sweep during the climax. This is one performance that the actor can really be proud of and will be remembered till the fag end of his career. Ajmal Ameer makes a confident debut in Tamil cinema as Kirupakaran. The handsome and talented young man takes to the role like no one else’s business and comes up trumps with it. This is easily the best debut in the past 10 years and Ajmal proves that he is here to stay. Narain breathes fire into the role of Sathiyavan. The earnestness and sincerity with which the actor performs needs to be seen to be believed. The actor has gone out of shape to do justice to his character and he maintains the graph of his character effectively. From over the top to subtle to honest, Sathiyavan passes through a gamut of emotions which has been effectively portrayed by Narain. He should be specially complemented for his excellent dialogue delivery. To sum up, Anjaathey is not the kind of film that puts you at ease. It is crude, gruesome and disturbing; but it is definitely an honest and daring attempt by a group of youngsters, who with adequate support and encouragement can very well rewrite the fate of Tamil cinema in the years to come. Definitely, an effort that needs to be encouraged and supported!