The much-awaited Telugu Remake of the hit Bollywood-thriller ‘Kahaani‘, ‘Anamika’ has finally hit the screens today. The film stars the controversial lady Nayanthara in the lead and is directed by Ace Tollywood director Sekhar Kammula.
The movie has been in the news for various reasons. Earlier, it was in news due to extreme similarities in the plot of the movie with its Hindi counterpart. Later, with Nayanthara shunning the promotions of the film, there was more trouble in store for the film.
Now that the film has released worldwide, let’s look at how it has turned out to be :
Plot:
Anaamika (Nayantara), arrives in Hyderabad from Maryland, USA during the Durga Puja festivities in search of her missing husband, Ajay Shastri (Harshavardhan Rane) a software engineer in America.
Parthasaradhi (Vaibhav Reddy), a police officer, investigates the case and helps her in the process of finding Ajay Shastri.
Whether they end up finding him or not forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Vidya Balan delivered a stellar performance in ‘Kahaani’. Essaying her role in the Official-Telugu remake of the film, Nayanthara,playing the titular role ‘Anaamika’, delivers an above average performance. Although she doesn’t look as convincing as Vidya in the original film, she acts her part satisfactorily. Her gestures and expressions during the climax of the film deserves a special mention.
Keeping in sync with the twists in the film, Nayanthara plays her part considerably well given and ensures that the viewer does not get an idea of the upcoming twist.
Despite less screen presence, Harshvardhan scores with his brief role as the terrorist. The whole film is all about him (Ajay Sastri) who only makes his presence in the climax. Vaibhav (Saradhi) is okay as a Good Samaritan cop but it is his characterization in the film that disconnects one. Anaamika in the film often calls Saradhi, cop, by his name without much respect as if she knows him very well. Irony is the cop who works 24/7 for solving one ‘missing’ case calls her Anaamika garu!
On the whole, the characters play their parts satisfactorily and ensure that the audiences remain hooked to the film.
Technical Aspects:
It is here that the director Sekhar Kammula deserves a special mention. When considered as an individual entity, ‘Anaamika’ has all the ingredients of a typical Sekhar Kammula-film : Tight screenplay,character-driven plot and impressive background score. However, when compared to the original, this film disappoints!
The biggest difference between this film and the original is that in this one, ‘Anaamika’ is not pregnant ans she appears to be stronger than her Hindi counterpart!
This is definitely not one the best work of Sekhar Kammula,however,it suits the tastes of the Telugu audiences. The plot and the screenplay has been altered very well to suit the audiences here.
Keeravani’s background score is impressive and ensures that the viewer remains hooked. It very well compliments Kammula’s story-telling in the film.
Vijay Kumar’s Cinematography is good.
The interval bang and a flurry of twists in the climax,make up for the slow first half.
Hawk-Eye Analysis:
The first half of the film is painfully slow. However,the director could not have avoided this as the characters should have been and are well-established. The twist just before the interval sets the tone for a swifter and intriguing second half.
‘The curse of the second half’ does not affects this movie. The flurry of twists in the plot and a more active approach by the actors,ensures that this film reaches where it had started to.
The spirit of Hyderabad has been captured beautifully,which will ensure that the locals get a deja vu feeling about this one!
Final Verdict:
It’s a one-time watch for sure. If you have watched the original,you can afford to skip this one!
