Anniyan - a superbly executed movie

Shankar's movies had always amazed me, right from Gentleman to Boys. He strives to convey a message to the society, without eliminating the commercial, entertaining aspects. That's what makes his movies so successful.

Anniyan portrays the retribution shown by inveterate disciplined Ambi, the protogonist towards the carefree, take-it-easy attitude of people because of which our country remains backward even after 58 years of independence. With Ambi a.k.a Rules Ramanujan saying "I hate disorder", the story begins at the agraharam in Thiruvallikeni. He faces disorder one after other in his whole day, a bibulous,lazy fellow spitting on Ambi's face while he is driving his bike, an auto driver crossing the yellow line and overtaking people waiting for the signal, a rogue man eve-teasing girls in the bus, an old man being hit by a car and bleeding, yet no one trying to rescue him. He gets furious seeing all such selfish people. He cries out aloud that he is helpless. He goes down to such deep emotions that Anniyan is born.

Killing all those people who take advantage of the society and holes in Indian law in the most violent manner, he brings out a shiver in people's minds, including his hearthrob Nandini, played by girl-next-door image Sada.

Vikram is the show-stealer, no one could have portrayed his character(s) as perfectly as the man himself. He gets a huge round of applause in the final sequences with Prakash Raj, the cop. Sada is just a saada (meaning ordinary) in her not-so-important role. Vivek's comedy provides a good humour to a message oriented film.

A word worth mentioning for the music by Harris Jeyaraj. The first song "Kumari....." mellowed in me with those beautiful locales and a superb rendering by Shankar Mahadevan. I believe this song is the smash hit in the movie. Other songs are fast paced, with lots of English lyrics and doesn't sink in audience's minds. The folk song "randakaa" has been choreographed well and shot amidst greenery and fields.

Somehow I feel Rahman - Shankar combination works pretty well. All the songs , be it Indian,Jeans or Kadalan linger in your minds for a long time. Harris is doing a good job , but can never catch up with his master.

Stunts are amazing, especially when Anniyan fights against those martial arts experts. There are some never-before-seen-in-Tamil-movies kinda stunts which capture the action oriented audience (My hubby, ofcourse!!!).

The director has done a lot of research in MPD(find out the expansion in the movie) and portrayed the hero in a well-defined manner. Hats off to Shankar. He is one director who makes movies once in 2-3 years but succeeds in his attempts always.

My final verdict : Anniyan , a super-duper hit....