Mar 30, 2008 01:28 PM
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'Anjaathe; says the director Mishkin. He is no Eisenstein, but has given a neat and lengthy drama for us to cherish. The plot is of course opt repeated. Decades ago, a film by name'Panthayam' was made in Tamil with Gemini and AVM Rajan, with the idealistic turning goonda and the irresponsible turning a cop. This was remade in Hindi with Shammi Kapoor also. The same plot comes now with a different style - a la RamGopal Verma.
All the good, bad and the uglies are well etched out by the director, who claims to have read more than 1.5 lakhs pages of literature, mostly Russian, before making every film, and this is his second one. Instead of seeing Russian films, I believe he must have seen plenty of hollywood action dramas also, along with book worming. The protoganist Sathya is played by Naren, while his friend Kiruba by debundant Ajmal. Both are sons of cops and from the same Police quarters. The former is an irresponsible fellow who spends more time in bars, and chewing pan parag or something always. He hates to become a cop, against the wishes of his parents, and is ready to knock out the nose of anybody without thinking. Kiruba is an idealistic boy, who always pumps out muscles and prepares for the entrance exam to become a sub Inspector. He is loaded with general knowledge, mugged out from entrance exam guides. As sathya has some confrontations with local goons, he decides to become a cop through crooked means like paper chasing, etc. thanks to his well placed uncle, who is a PA to some Minister.
The cruel twist makes Sathya as the Sub Inspector, and is posted in the same area Police Station, where he lives, which could happen only in movies. Kiruba fails in the test and becomes a dejected soul. He and his family believe, this happened only because of Sathya's selection, and begin to hate him. Kiruba takes to drinks and ruins himselves. Daya, played by Prasanna is the villain of the peace along with his senior villain Pandiarajan. Daya it seems is a psycho; he kidnaps young girls and demands heavy ransom from their parents. To avoid further investigations, he also rapes them . The triangle of these three characters forms the main theme of the plot.
The director has to be congratulated for treating each and every character, even if it comes for a few minutes, with care. The team of cops lead by Ponvannan needs special mention. The way Kiruba is lead into the hands of Daya, how Sathya takes his job seriously, are all best sequences in this drama. The character of Daya should have been dealt with more accuracy, I feel. He is a pervert, having an ugly eye on young girls, and deals them in a crude manner. His postures, his way of walking, his hairstyle, his body language, everything is artificial, for an otherwise movie with realistic portrayals. The movie is racy, except for the grand finale which is lengthy and lengthy in a sugarcane field. In many sequences, the characters throw off their pistols and engage in a hand to hand duel, that is so typical of Tamil films. Repeating the same style of song sequence of his previous film, sounds silly.
Apart from these kinds of picturisations, 'Anjathe' is an important film of the contemporary Tamil film scene and kudos to Mishkin!
