anniyan ...

In college , there was a guy called "dhevaru" (god, in kannada ) who once told me I should be given the title "onegar of krec" (complainer of krec) ... because i had a very vocal way of venting my dissatisfaction about anything out of place . That was one point of view ...anyway that came to my mind cause i am gonna write a movie review .

A couple of months back I got a video through mail in office ... it was a trailer of "anniyan" ... a film by shankar (indian , boys,mudhalvan....) . I am relative newbie to popular tamil cinema , but once i went to chennai and got along with the local folk there , my view of tamil , tamil cinema ... changed quite a bit . I had to admit there was some real talented work happening there .

Anniyan is a story about a very "paavum" guy (innocent...bechara) who is a lawyer and can't tolerate injustice in any form ... (brings to mind a line from somewhere ..."its not the magnitude that matters , its the nature of the action ") . He faces situations which cause deep impressions to be left on his psyche . His kid sister dies early in his childhood becoz of electrocution on the roadside due the negligence of many people . Everybody goes scot free because the crime cant be pinned on anyone in particular . And as he grows up , he falls in love with a girl who is his relative in some way( could nt make out) but is unable to express it . This is another source of fuel for his emotional pressure cooker . He becomes a lawyer who upholds justice in every little thing possible and this as expected is percieved as eccentric (Howard Roark would have been proud of this guy ! ) . People treat him condescendingly and don't take him seriously .

His life goes on in this very unsatisfactory way until one day something in his mind gives way and he becomes what his deepest subconsious wants him to be . To take care of the injustice around he becomes "anniyan" , who in his mind is the care taker of the hindu hell "narakam" . The best part about this is he himself doesn't know that his brain is multi tasking to run many operating systems ! So our pal the lawyer complains about the wrongs happening in chennai through a website anniyan.com to his alter ego "anniyan" . And anniyan punishes the guilty with death as prescribed in the vedas for "judgement day" . The most gruesome punishment of them all I felt was when he ties up a guy and adorns him with gigantic leeches ... they squeeze him dry to leave something grouse behind.

As if one alter ego wasnt enough , another comes up .."remo" ... ramp walk model . This guys created by his mind to satisfy the romantic urges of our hero . He patafies the babe easily with his cool attitude and crazy stunts (like walking backwards on a heavy traffic road) . Things go well for the alter egos , but our hero is as dissatisfied as ever . The babe commits a heinous crime right in front of his eyes , the crime being tax evasion ! In a short time "anniyan" is after her ... and owing to the babe being a very familiar person , the processor ...the hero's mind gets confused and the alter egos "remo" and "anniyan" with conflicting interests in her come and go rapidly , one trying to kill and the other protect . A superb fight sequence with an entire kung fu school ensues as anniyan tries to punish the babe . Anniyan , wins hands down , but the babe is nt just a babe ... she has a brain too ! ... she realises that its the same guy whos remo and anniyan and the lawyer . Appealing to his mushy side (though she doesnt really care abt him) ... she escapes and eventually gets him to NIMHANS.

Diagnosed for multiple personality disorder , the babe falls for him , for evidently hes crazy abt him . This apparently is an exit sign for the remo alter ego . But anniyan is still on the loose . In the true "Indian" style , anniyan organises a town hall meeting to spread public awareness about his one man "punisher " company . Having done that , and made the people pee in their pants with "al qaeda" style videos , he manages to give a slip to the cops ... namely prakash raj whose bro anniyan fried in oil earlier for serving bad food on a train . Seeking revenge , the cop traces out our hero and gets him a torture room to make him admit his crimes . He uses extreme weapons of the medieval age on out hero who takes it all like a bakra , but once the mental anguish crosses a limit , he shifts to anniyan mode and normal mode like a toggle flip flop , as a result ... putting the cop in a major confusion . The cops get beaten black and blue and anniyan runs out of batteries after some time .

The final destination is the court of law where the hero's father , a lawyer himself gives a good presentation to the judge (reminds me of devenders and malavikas presentation in coll .... the one with the quantum computing ) . And so our hero goes scot free against his own will , because the law can understand stuff like alter egos in Chennai !!!

The conculsion is a happy one ... a treatment of a semester ..sorry six months is enough to get rid of the remaining alter ego "anniyan" . The hero is normal when he comes out and loses his Roarkian qualities (wat a pity ) ... but alls well that ends well , he marries and goes off on his honeymoon on a train !? But in the ending scene "anniyan " lives again... akin to "i ll be back " of the terminator .

Its one really entertaining film if you understand tamil ! watchable even otherwise , esp if you can get a tam babe to translate it for you ! Watch it , highly recommended by me ....

- msk