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Anjathey - Review
iView Author:
SIVAKUMAR T
(Chennai, India)
Email:
leoshiva1983 [at] gmail.com
Anjathey - Review
Having read a lot of articles in PFC, one thing i discovered is that, the first sentence(s) in the article must be captivating enough to make the reader go through the entire article. As I write this, I could understand why I was hooked to the tamil movie Anjathey(No fear) almost immediately.
Imagine this. This is the first sequence in the movie.
Blue sky - As we see from ground. The camera is on the ground facing the blue sky.
The camera moves right. Slowly a person standing comes into the frame.
The camera inches further and we see 2 more people standing.
Then, the camera moves back,left. After a few secs, a person is taking “push-ups” in an iron-bar. We realize that this place is a playground. The Scene then unfolds.
Why is the Director doing all this in the first sequence itself when he could have used a normal camera angle?.He just gives us a hint in the first frame itself that “You cant just doze off in my movie and know the full story…stay awake and watch it”….Literally HE SAID THAT TO ME in my mind!!!
The message is bold and clear to the audience. This movie is not the one you can watch it leisurely.During the movie, you cannot talk to your friend sitting next to you-pass a comment- ask for popcorn-nibble with your mobile. The Director and the whole crew have spent their minds and energies in making this movie and they want us to show respect to their effort.
The story of Anjathey is complex to narrate. I have often heard in actor’s interviews that they were completely mesmerized by the narration. I saw those movies and all I found was a love story opposed by both the protagonist’s parents. This movie is real complex.There are a lot of events to narrate. Some may simply put it as a Friendship story. It isn’t. It is not even just a thriller. It is not a love story for sure. It is not a story about the life of a police officer. It is not about how fate takes you through life. This story is not about a single thing. It is a complex, intricately woven story.
The film has an excellent story line. Friendship, police life, pedophile, kidnapping incidents, thriller, love..they all are interlaced in a single story with effortless ease . The director must have watched more than a 1000 good World cinema till now. Mysskin surely does love movies!
The haunting music...The music has gone along with the movie. This music goes with the story getting revealed on the screen. The biggest success for background score in a movie is you should not hear it ALONE!…The back ground score should not be different from WHAT YOU FEEL…That is exactly what has Mysskin and Sundar C.Babu (Music Dir) have managed to do. The film has just 3 songs. Out of which 1 is a love song, picturized in an interesting fashion and the rest are “Gaana” songs which suits the atmosphere in the movie. I loved “Thakida thakida”… :-)
The haunting locations. Even before the scene has started, the locations give you a chill down the spine. Hats off to the Production manager, Director and …and…I don’t know who all are involved in this department. The locations in the climax sequences, the hideouts of Daya and Logu, homes of the male leads. All have been selected to perfection.
The extras. Being a filmi crowd you all, you would know that biggest success of any movie is How-you-manage-extras. Take Paruthiveeran(Tamil), Lagaan, Polladhavan(Tamil), Dog Day Afternoon and all your favorite films. All of them had extras do their best. Even in his previous film - Chithiram Pesuthadi, Mysskin’s assistant directors have done a good job in getting the work done from the extras. This film is no exception. When you rewind the movie in your mind, I wont be surprised if you try to give names to the characters like “Patti”, “Sappai’s son”etc.,.
The actors. Prasanna as Daya, Narain as Sathya, Ajmal(debut) as Kruba, Pandyarajan(yesteryear comedy actor-director) as Logu have done neat roles. Special mention must be made to Prasanna and Ajmal. It would not be exaggerating to say that all these people have performed the roles of their lives. This film would be ON THE TOP OF THEIR RESUME.
Even when we remove all these positive factors, I could still say that this movie is one-helluva-movie.
The reason?
Director - Mysskin. He was literally playing with audience’s mind.
Can u believe that he didn’t show the face of a person in the whole movie?…Why did he do so?…Because, he says again “Unaku thevaiye illa(You dont need that)….what is important is what he does…and not how he looks…”…My goodness..Mysskin was playing with our mind…
In one important sequence, the camera is at the ankle level and he doesn’t show anything other than that. What he effectively does is, he makes us to imagine the scene. Only hints! You Comprehend the picture!
In one of the sequences where Daya is supposed to rape a girl…He doesn’t show anything…He just shows us the circumstances…how the girl looks..what the girl is wearing…how does daya react…That’s it. Rest, CUT TO the next scene. He doesn’t show anything. He just lets our imagination run wild. If he shows anything, we would have thought…Oh this is it??.. But, by not showing anything,what he makes is, “More perverted you think, more perverted the villain is”. This technique by Mysskin does wonders to a story like this.
Even though this film is too good, this surely has drawbacks. The role of Keerthi (investigative officer) was funny, when it was intended to be intelligent. The starting sequences to establish Sathya and Kiruba’s character were long. If he had asked me, I would have established it in 10 mins(3 sequences). It took him 20-25 mins(5 sequences) to establish both the characters. The end sequences in search of Daya and Mottai was good,but not intelligent.
Rest, this movie is one of the best I have watched in my life. I am talking about World cinema here.
One thing which runs a chill down my spine is there are a lot of good movies coming around in Tamil. I mean real good movies. So, by the time I make good movies , it wont be that good I think :-(. Frankly speaking, I am damn jealous of all those good directors. Time is not far away, when every 3rd movie in Tamil will be world class.
Anjathey ——- No Fear!!!
Movie - Anjathey
Cast - Prasanna, Narain, Ajmal, Pandyarajan, Ponvannan, Vijayalakshmi, M.S.Bhaskar etc.,
Editor - Sadagoban Ramesh
Music - Sundar.C.Babu
Camera- Mahesh Muthuswamy
Producer - Hitesh Jabak
Written and Directed by - Mysskin
39 Responses to “Anjathey - Review”
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Nice write up. Will try to catch this sometime…
Thanks Dazed & Confused. Sure, do watch this movie.
By the way, My email-id is leoshiva1983 [at] gmail.com
:)
Siva,Do u suggest to watch this movie with family ?:)
Deepak,
Thanks for taking time to read.
Yes, I would suggest to watch the movie with family. Ofcourse, there are sequences in which girls/women may feel uncomfortable. But, the truth is right there on the screen.
Kidnappers and pedophiles are in our soceity and the manner in which they kidnap girls in the movie is shocking. This movie would surely enhance the awareness level of the parents and women in general.
Great writeupda… keep it up :)
As for the movie, except for its length it was a great effort from Mysskin… the comment abt BGM by Sunder is very true - itz rare nowadayz to find BGM like this in films which blends well with the narration… Great Work!!!
I havent watched the movie yet, but all keen and eager to see this movie as it is from the director who made the fabulous “Chithiram Pesudhadi”. I caught a glimpse of the trailer and the SugarCane field scene reminded me of the opening of Jeyakanthan’s novel “Oru manidhanum sila erumai maadugalum” (one man and some buffaloes). The movie has got rave reviews and I hope to see and give me 2 cents sometime. The write up is pretty good and camera angles you have mentioned seem to be universally credited as the plus point of the movie and makes me want to see that much more.
Thanks Samm :)
Thanks Jaiganesh.
Yes, Chithiram Pesuthadi was fabulous. I saw that without any expectations and was blown over.
Jaiganesh,
I remember reading somewhere that Jayakantan’s novel -
“Imagine this. This is the first sequence…”
I did it, felt wonderful.
You have a very good way of narrating things. Share your blog space, if you have one, else start one for we have few Intellectual writers !!
Will post my comments once i see the movie.
Thanks Aravind :)
Do share your views here after you watch the movie.
good review..the movie really kicksass…awesome n watching it once s not enough..
Thanks Rafi…
Gr8 Review !!! The way you narrated the first scene is good ….
Thanks Ramprabhu :-)
A movie review from a fan’s perspective rather than that of an arm chair critic.Way to go Siva,keep them coming.
Thanks Rajkumar R :)
Before some days I heard that this movie is good from a reliable person.
Today, I gave it a try. I never expected that a new director can make such a good movie. All the cinema people should be proud for such a movie to have been taken in Tamil.
I loved this movie more than Kuruthi Punal.
Siva, that was a very good review. Please share us your blogspace.
Thanks
Thanks Hari…I dont have a blogspace. Thinking of one :-?
http://www.desipundit.com/baradwajrangan/
it cant get more reliable than this can it?
siva, keep the IViews coming and u probably will get a blogspace ;-)
nice review, but one thing, mysskin rarely sees movies…Anyway, on the negative comments, it would be much better if you can be specific instead of being vague plz….
Srikanth,
Its news to me when you say Mysskin rarely sees movies. May be only because of that, he was able to form a style of his own.
On the negative side of the movie,
1. Keerthi(Investigative Officer)’s role was funny. First of all, this character needed a debut actor. I already know this guy is not talented enough to find anything(I mean in his previous films, he is not a hero!!!!) So i knew everything this guy does will be in vain
A investigative police officer,
a. He must sport a good moustache
b. He must speak proper english or speak only in tamil.
Keerthi fails in all the factors. When he says “Lets taste Sappai” in his own english, I cant but laugh at him.
During the end sequences, when he was taking the route from Pallavaram, Chromepet to Tambaram, he was over-reacting. He was thinking-aloud. That wasn’t characteristic of a police-officer.
This is one of the negatives i felt. I may be wrong :)
The Starting Sequences:
1. Playground sequence - The aim of this sequence is to establish Kruba, Sathya and his friends. Kruba as an aspiring police officer, Sathya as a road-side rowdy and their friends tend to lean towards Sathya. These are shown.
2. Homes of Kruba and Sathya sequence- The aim of this sequence is to introduce the characters of Kruba’s and Sathya’s families and the relationship between them.
3. Again, a sequence to establish how bad Sathya is and how good Kruba is.
4. Sathya’s birthday sequence - The aim of this sequence is to illustrate the intensity of friendship between Sathya and Kruba. That is already done!!!!!!!! The use of “Ring” does not suit the movie.
I dont remember all the sequences. But, they all went on to highlight the following:
1. Kruba is good
2. Sathya is bad
3. Kruba loved by his family
4. Sathya hated by his father
Sathya’s father seemed to scold him unnecessarily many times.
This is one of the negatives i felt. I may be wrong :)
In the end sequences,
The way Daya, Kruba and Mottai hide in the middle of a sugarcane field is fine. But, the school girls, Kruba, Mottai and Daya..they are in a symmetry. What i mean is, the angle between each one of them is either 45,60,90 or 180 degrees. The position of the camera was fixed first and the characters came to the scene and NOT the OTHER WAY AROUND. It made me feel that its a film after all.
In the end, they all ran towards some hill. It made me feel sigh. Why didn’t the Director think still more to arrive at a suitable ending? The climax is fine. But, the way in which he arrives at the climax is what disturbs me.
One more negative i felt which i failed to mention in the article is,
The way Logu(Pandyarajan) reacts to the scene where the police have zeroed in on him and raided his garage.
Logu was a pedophile for hell’s sake and after all he did to the girls, i felt like blasting him. When the police team zeroed on him and found his garage, I felt happy.
When Logu knows about the raid, i wanted him to really feel afraid; i wanted him to cry like hell; i wanted him to loose balance.
But, what he does? He does his trademark comedy. Shit……Now I felt like hitting Mysskin. After building up the hatred towards Logu, how come the Director expects me to laugh at this.
To say on a lighter vein, the Director didn’t satisfy my ego.
anjathey is an extremely interesting movie in that respect.
I originally thought they didn’t do big fight scenes or big romance scenes because it was a low budget stude.nt film. but more I think about it, the more I feel that the latency(all the violence is off screen and there’s no actual romance between the leading charecters in it.) everyone looks like they have a guilty secret..feels like some sam fuller films i’ve seen.
the latency..is deliberate..
got missed out. sorry…
I do not quite buy the points that an investigative police officer should have a mustache and speak in proper english/tamil only. These kind of expectations are more for masala movies .. dont u think? Also, since keerthi was doing a team effort, I think it is ok for him to think aloud during his ride to tambaram. But ya, he was a little hyperactive for the role. IG’s characterization could also have been done a little better - he did nothing other than to boss around unnecessarily.
Anyways, to add my 2cents, I agree with your view that the movie did drag at a few… very few points. Sometimes, he was panning the camera with no purpose - when there was just static activity around. In case one wants to pan the camera to cover static activities (brushing teeth, for eg), there should be enough fodder for the viewer’s brain to chew on, which was missing sometimes. But, a few such shots did give me the required ‘pause’ to think about the most recent happening in the movie.
There were a few other minor negative points as well - things that can be very easily pardoned for just a second movie (for mysskin). One eg is when the parent of one kidnapped girl changes his stance of not involving the police just after hearing a short talk by Sathya (which was more like, the police has been working their ass off since morning and hence cannot be driven out for committing just one major blunder!).
But, all in all, this movie certainly laid a milestone in tamil film industry. Good job Mysskin !
Karthik,
Hmm….yes..you are right. I was wrong in the moustache stuff.
hi sivakumar,
its a fantastic review.and the way you narrated the sequences is brilliant . why dont you try to write a screenplay? yes man you really got it!!!!
Thanks mamas…
I honestly believe that the review was good because the film was good..
Well…regarding screenplay, yeah…i am thinking of one…
Good one da siva… think this is one movie in which you were not playing games in yr mobile during the movie…:d and allowed us to enjoy the movie….
Deepak :d
Thanks…
should have been soo much more Shiva…
disappointed
Hi DPac…
You dint like the movie? Where did you watch it?
Sivakumar T
it was a confused attempt to say the least, Shiva. Should I add a song here?
Should I add this extra bit of herogiri here
HOw much masala, emotional nautanki should i put here etc etc etc…
it was a commendable effort no doubt.
there was sparks of brilliance here and there
but too many misplaced loyalties…
so yes really disappointed
Yesterday I watched Anjathey. I think it is a very good movie but not without flaws.
Positives
———
1. Good acting from Naren, Ajmal, Kuruvi (I do not know this guys real name) and M.S Bhaskar
2. Background score
Negatives
———
I think Director was confused(Or Was he pressurised by the producers) to add some masala items.
1. Love song - I think even without the song the audience realise that Naren and the girl is on Love
2. Why would Naren try to fight with Prasanna when he has guns. Is it to show heroism?
3. How does Ponvannan know that they have go in the opposite direction? Is it just a prominition? His expalanation does not sound convincing
4. How do they come to conclusion that if they follow Naren they will be able to catch the villain?
this is a world class film.it has been a long time that i have seen a good film after may be kannathil muthamital. who knows mysskin may become next MANI RATNAM who establishes so well……!!!!!
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