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Movie :Anwar
Director :Amal Neerad
Music :Gopi Sundar
Cast :Prithviraj, Mamta, Prakash Raj, Lal


Director Amal Neerad’s Anwar is an engaging film that makes a definite impact on the viewer. With its technical brilliance, brisk pace, good music and some fine performances, it is capable enough to take you to a different world. It may be far from perfect especially with a rather average script but such things barely come to your mind while watching it.
It is perhaps difficult to explain the storyline, without giving away too much about the film or its suspense. Anwar (Prithviraj) is a hot blooded youth who falls pretty easily into the charming theories of Babu Sait (Lal), a rich man who finds it quite normal to help the terrorists, in the name of religion.

The two meet in jail and soon Anwar becomes his trusted henchman, as Babu Sait plans to conduct several terrorist attacks and bomb blasts. All along, the brilliant anti-terrorist cop Stalin Manimaran (Prakash Raj) is in pursuit of the criminals. Mamta Mohandas plays Ayesha, who is nabbed the police, after they find certain aspects that links her to a bomb blast.

Amal Neerad, who had depended only on technical wizardry for his earlier films like Big B and Sagar Alias Jackie- Reloaded, has come up with a decent storyline here. Of course, the inspiration from Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s Traitor is evident at times. Satheesh Kurup’s visuals and Gopi Sundar’s music are among the highlights of the film.

Prithviraj, who looks really handsome, has done a brilliant job as Anwar. He has long been acknowledged as the next best thing of Malayalam cinema and he shows why such assumptions are relevant. Prakash Raj and Lal may not have too many scenes but the actors have shown their credentials in an excellent way even then. Mamta mainly has to look beautiful and that, she does in style. The rest of the cast have also performed quite well.

With some fine moments, Anwar qualifies as an engrossing entertainer. It may be far from being perfect with too many ‘cinematic liberties’ to boost the hero and things could have been better with a tighter script. But even in the current form, the movie succeeds in shaking the viewer up with its merits. Watch this one!

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Debutant director N R Sanjeev’s film has an inherent appeal mainly because of its genuine theme. But the problem here is that the real issues in the story lose its focus with its overdose of clichéd dialogues and the attempts to glorify the heroes.Worse still, the same storyline was narrated by director M A Nishad in his film Vairam last year and it is sad that no earnest attempts have been made to package this one in a better way than the earlier film.

Viswanathan (Suresh Gopi), Monayi (Biju Menon) and Palani (Harisree Asokan) are fleeing from the cops and after several hurdles, they manage to reach ace lawyer Sooryanarayanan (Mohanlal). He listens to their rather tragic story, according to which Viswanathan’s teenage daughter was gang raped and brutally murdered by a dirty trio, consisting of a super-rich businessman, a cop and a young DJ.

Dr. Rani (Jyothirmayee), who had taken care of the girl at the hospital, reveals certain crucial facts to Viswanathan. After their plea for justice falls on deaf ears, Viswanathan, Monayi and Palani kill the three miscreants, one after the other. Now Sooryanarayanan decides to help them, with his smart wit and brilliance.

Director Sanjeev and scenarist S N Swamy has gone for the highly conventional ways to narrate the story. From the hero-is-always-smart type quips and the thrills with well built hunks which he wins hands down, to the excessive melodrama, there are many scenes modeled on the formulaic films of this genre! Mohanlal has a comparatively brief role, but he has almost all the stylish lines in his kitty and the versatile genius is evidently at ease doing it all in a charming way.

Though one of main highlights of the film is the bond between a couple and their darling daughter, that part is almost ignored here. The chemistry shared between Suresh Gopi, his wife played by Kaveri and their daughter is ineffective on screen and that affects the whole mood of the film as well. Of course, Suresh Gopi tries really hard and he succeeds in his attempt to look convincing to a certain extent, but both Kaveri and the young girl fails to impress. Remember, Tamil actor Pasupathi had done a spectacular performance in a similar role in Vairam.

The rest of the cast including Jyothirmayee, Biju Menon, Harisree Asokan, Vijayaraghavan, Sivaji Guruvayur, Vijayakumar and Rajith Menon have limited roles to play. Sanjeev Sankar’s camera is just okay while M Jayachandran’s music is pretty nice.

There are no real experiments here, true, but the film has its moments and as they say, the heart at the right place. Though the film is just above two hours, it could have been more enjoyable, if it was shorter by some 20 minutes or so.


- COURTESY ; SIFY.COM