Innovation at all angles. Review on Anjathey Movie

I believe cinema is a visual medium and only a few knew how to handle it that way.  Mysskin, the director who scripted "Chithiram Pesudhadi", has come up with his next venture in "Anjaathe" that is majorly visual.  This time, he is right on target, filling up the gaps that were left over from his previous outing.

Sathyavaan(Naren) and Kribakaran(Ajmal) are childhood friends from Policemen families.  Where Kriba aspires to be a SI, meticulously preparing for it, Sathya wanders aimlessly getting into quarrels for pleasure.  All goes well till Sathya decides to compete Kriba through questionable methods.  As a turn of fate, Sathya becomes SI while Kriba fails in the attempt.  Now its change of role play.  Sathya realizes the responsibility, metamorphizes into a thorough policeman.  Kriba becomes an arrogant and irate loser, itching to do anything to bring down Sathya.  He eventually gets attracted to Dhaya(Prasanna) and Logu(Pandiyarajan) who live by means of abducting minor girls.  A cat and mouse game begins, where the once friends have to decide between their friendship and their professions.

With nothing much innovative to offer from a storyline like this, Mysskin spins a tale of friendship that is both refreshing and heartbreaking.  The movie is tightly paced(though a bit prolonged at the end) and keeps us guessing.  The characters are well developed with sufficient breathing time.

Those who whine(like me) that Tamil filmdom has nothing to offer in cinematography, has to think twice.  "Anjaathe" provides a visual  treat incorporating almost all camera angles and techniques in the book that fits the budget.  I could even write a separate review about it.  For eg, the opening sequence starts with a bright sky, where three faces show up.  The camera pans slowly a while and now we see Kriba excercising face down and thereby facing the camera.  What an angle and innovation!  Likewise, when Kriba brings Dhaya and Logu to his house, the entire sequence of them entering the house, searching for a place to hide were shown through the expressions of their legs.  We already had a glimpse of this technique in "Chithiram Pesudhadi" but here it is elaborate and complete.  I never thought legs alone could act.

Where "Vettayaadu Vilayaadu", though having a impressive cast and performance, failed to impress by employing needless dissolve sequences and jump cuts, "Anjaathe" never gets into such technical faults.  There is ample time for the viewers to intake the content with lesser distractions and thereby get totally absorbed to the screen.  Kudos to the camerawork and editing departments.  Background score is outstanding that keeps us tied to the seats.

This is a splendid cast of performers.  Choosing Prasanna and Pandiyarajan for a shady role requires courage both from the actors' and the director's side.  Though Prasanna appears ordinary in the beginning, his subsequent behavior brings a eerie feeling.  Same holds good for Pandiyarajan as well.  He is timid yet dangerous and never hesitates to get rid of anybody that slightly appears as a threat.  Among other notable performance is by Ajmal, who brings the transformation of a good willed person to a criminal.  His transformation is fantastically scripted.

The problem with this kind of movie is that its too intellectual for layman to succeed in box office.  "Pattiyal" is one such recent example.  But, "Anjaathe" serves for all.  Songs, especially, are smartly used to brings the B and C center folks flocking to the theatres for an otherwise too intelligent movie.

Pitfalls are not many.  Fight sequences are with the same eccentricity of "Chithriam Pesudhadi".  Especially the hospital fight.  I don't know whether killers would move such comically.  Similarly, they could've avoided the brother-sister sentiment at the climax, which looks interruptive to the proceedings.

The climax is what it is supposed to be.  You have to panic, tense, anticipate, grip the chair and finally enjoy.  All these are available in "Anjaathe".  The sugarcane field sequences at the end, is at its best with pulsating camera angles.  Trivial events like a lizard looking and stone falling into the well, gives you the feeling that you are there witnessing a read incident.

I would say, after Bharathiraja, we have a director whose wizardry is sufficient enough to sit through the entire movie.  We have abundant directorial touches and ironies spilled over on each scene that its not a bad idea to watch the movie once more to get the most out of it.