Tag Archives: Ramya Krishna

Sri Anjaneyam

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Sri Anjaneyam is one of those films that I find it hard to make up my mind about. There are a lot of things I enjoy; it has great special effects, an interesting storyline and excellent performances by Nitin and Arjun. But I really don’t like Charmy’s character in this at all, and I find the whole romance sub-plot unnecessary and irritating. Re-watching it for this review, I found that it’s perhaps growing on me and on balance there is more to like than not. But I still wish Krishna Vamshi had left the romance out.

The opening credits have some beautiful pictures which show scenes from Lord Hanuman’s part in the Ramayana.

The film starts, as many Telugu films do, with Prakash Raj. He’s a civil engineer who has come to the drought strickenvillage of Ramapuramto build a dam which should solve the area’s water woes. But he meets with opposition from a local with political aspirations who organises protests and a legal challenge to stop the project. Brahmam is annoyed that he hasn’t got control of the project himself, and thinks that the dam will allow the villagers to become wealthy and independent from him. I love the model below which comes complete with water and gates to change the flow – no wonder Prakash Raj looks happy.

Finally Brahmam sends his brother (who goes by the rather unlikely name of Tarzan), to kill the engineer and his wife. Tarzan isn’t aware that the couple have a son and as a result he is overlooked by the thugs. Alone on a rainy night, the young boy is led to the local temple by a helpful monkey, and takes refuge there. The priest and the villagers take it on themselves to look after him and he grows up devoted to Lord Anjaneya, leading to the villagers calling him Anji.

He’s very devout and grateful to the people of the village, spending his time between helping the priest in the temple, running errands for the villagers and worshiping his ‘boss’ Lord Anjaneya. The story has an almost fairy tale effect in these scenes as the colours are bright and initially Anji’s character is quite simplistic as a spiritual man who is lives to serve to his God.

Anji is a target for the local trouble makers, but he has a stalwart defender in the form of his childhood friend Pardhu. She’s not afraid of a fight and threatens anyone who tries to hurt Anji. When he saves her from a snake bite, she falls in love with him and puts a lot of effort into her campaign to ensure he marries her. Her attempts are probably why Anji looks horrified every time he sees her and runs quickly in the opposite direction. This whole side plot with Pardhu is the part that I don’t like. I think her character is supposed to be feisty and independent but she comes across as an over powering bully and her attempts to attract Anji are quite repulsive. She has a song during which she rolls around very unattractively in mud and while there are a few good moments they are few and far between. I usually like Charmy and I think she is a good actress, so I find it disappointing that her character here is so annoying and has some really terrible lines.

Meanwhile, Brahmam is still scheming and conspires with an evil magician to get rid of his political rival. He discovers a potential source of wealth underneath the local temple and immediately starts planning a way to get rid of the priest and demolish the temple.  However, he has reckoned without Anji, who has supreme confidence that Lord Anjaneya is already on the case and will once again sort out Lord Rama’s problems. His confidence is well placed as Lord Anjaneya does turn up although his aid is more to point Anji in the right direction to fulfil his fathers dream.

There are some really good special effects in this film and a few that don’t work quite so well. But they do make the appearance of Lord Anjaneya quite spectacular, and there is one particularly good sequence when he takes over a statue to fight off the local thugs.

The film develops slowly in the first half, but the pace picks up when Lord Anjaneya (Arjun) arrives. Arjun excels in his role and walks as if he had a tail, scratches perpetually and absentmindedly, and adds in some authentic shrieks and noises as he advises Anji.  He also has the ability to pass on some of his super strength, both of body and mind, which enables Anji to fight Brahmam’s men successfully. The rapport between Anji and his mentor is the best part of the film and the two actors work together very well to bring their relationship to life. Lord Anjaneya is very mischievous and there are some lovely comedic moments amongst the more serious and spiritual advice.

Nitin looks young and innocent as Anji which fits with the character’s spiritual side very well. I could also appreciate his horrified looks every time he ran into Pardhu as I felt much the same. As his character grew in the film Nitin showed an increase in Anji’s confidence while still maintaining his simplicity and this worked very well. Anji was charming and also goofy and funny enough to be a very watchable character.

The various actors who played Brahmam, the evil magician and assorted thugs were all good in their roles. The demon summoned by the magician was one of the special effects that didn’t really work, but the magician himself was quite evil enough to compensate. Interestingly Tarzan was shown to have a conscience and told his brother that all his bad deeds were the reason behind his miserable life. I thought this was a different approach, and helped to explain the conversion of the rowdies at the end of the film.

The story is one of good versus evil both spiritually with the evil magician and his demon against Lord Anjaneya and physically with Brahmam and his thugs against the priest and Anji. But there is also a coming of age part to the story as Anji decides to take on his father’s dam project. I must admit that there seemed to be plenty of water in the village and it was really quite green so a dam didn’t seem to be terribly necessary, but perhaps they’d just had a really good rainfall that year. Other plus points to the film are the wonderful colours and cinematography which, along with the special effects, make it a beautiful film to watch. The music by Mani Sharma is based on chants and this blends in very well to the film. The more modern duets don’t work quite as well but this one is very pretty.

The film is worth watching for the excellent performance by Arjun and his interaction with Nitin. And if like me you don’t like the romance, it’s easy to fast forward past those sections. Generally an enjoyable watch, but could have been better. 3 ½ stars

Temple says: This is a muddle of a film that ends up being an unsatisfying venture. Anji (Nitin) is a holy innocent – a simple man who finds his happiness and strength in his faith, and views his life as a blessing given by god. He has a childlike naivete but also the adamant strength that an uncomplicated resolve can bestow. Pardhu (Charme) didn’t strike me as a real bully. I felt she was also quite childlike, getting by on bluster and clearly being allowed to indulge in her histrionics by people like the smitten local rowdy rather than having any real force to exert. Certainly when a bit of dishoom would have been useful she was firmly on the sidelines.

The acting style was quite cartoonish and upbeat, the visual effects were mostly aimed at younger viewers and this had a family friendly feel initially. It reminded me a little of Krishna Vamsi’s earlier ‘Murari’ but with a more overt devotional aspect.

So I am mystified by the decision to add a highly sexualised and out of place relationship (I can’t call it a romance) track. Pardhu was a bit freaked out by her reaction to Anji sucking snake venom from her chest, and he was horrified by her and her girl germs. These two childlike characters were then placed in songs where Charme had to thrust her scantily clad groin into a stream of pouring milk, roll in mud and so forth. I’m very pleased I’m not one of the parents who had to answer the question ‘Mummy what is that lady doing? And where are her pants?’. When Pardhu suddenly started obsessing about Anji, her relatives said they would help her to tie him to a tree, take his pants and leave her to rape him. This advice horrified her.  It made no sense in terms of their characters and really didn’t work in the overall tone of the film.

The costume designers worked hard for the songs and certainly put the F back in Fugly. It was disappointing again as the rest of the film was quite beautiful, and the cinematography made the most of the lovely temple and village scenery. The other major let down was Nitin. He needed more spontaneity in his expressions rather than stop-think-react-pull a face as it all felt a bit tired, and like I was watching the 17th take of some shots. The story itself needed work – the dramatic aspect of the dam scheme and the murders kept getting sidelined and then would come back then fade out again.

I agree with Heather that Arjun is very good as Sri Anjaneyam and he gave the scenes with Nitin some much needed energy. He showed his confusion at learning to act human, and brought mischief and compassion to his character. Charme did all she could with a ridiculous role.  Prakash Raj was seen all too briefly, but made a great impression with his excellent use of props and his commitment to dying a memorable death.

I can’t recommend the film as there are too many things I didn’t enjoy. You know it’s bad when I have so many things to complain about I can’t even be bothered mentioning the dreaded Comic Side Plot. 2 ½ stars.

Pushpak

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Although made in 1987, Pushpak is a silent film with no dialogue. However there is background noise and a very funky soundtrack. Presumably inspired by the early silent films from the start of the last century, director Singeetham Srinivasa Rao has included plenty of situational and physical comedy but Pushpak manages to be a compelling, if somewhat moralistic drama at the same time.

The story centres on an unemployed graduate played by Kamal Hassan. He lives in a one-roomed apartment on the roof of his building, and spends his days wandering around the streets unsuccessfully looking for work. By chance, he comes across an alcoholic millionaire (Sameer Khakhar) lying at the side of the road and recognises him from an earlier encounter near the Hotel Pushpak.

Kamal Hassan decides to kidnap the unfortunate millionaire and carries him back to his meagre apartment where he restrains and gags the unconscious man (although he does thoughtfully turn on the fan), and then heads off to Hotel Pushpak where he assumes the millionaires identity. He sleeps in the millionaire’s room, eats his food and uses his cash to buy smart new clothes. Kamal Hassan is perfect in his indecision as he tries bread sticks, then some nuts and finally cannot decide which chocolate bar to eat – too much choice for someone who has been used to no choice at all. And I love the way they serve breakfast in the hotel.

Clever shots of photographs in both the hotel room and the millionaire’s home allow us to identify the millionaire’s wife, to whom he appears devoted and the millionaire’s best friend, who appears to be devoted to the millionaire’s wife. The two are having an affair and we learn that the best friend has hired an assassin to get rid of the husband for good.

The role of the assassin is played by Tinnu Anand who throws himself into the role and seems to have a great time stalking his target. However as he has only the hotel name and room number, he clearly doesn’t know that he is attempting to kill the wrong man. His weapon of choice is a throwing dagger made of ice which he carries around in an ice bucket (of course!). His efforts to remove the lid of the ice bucket, pull the ice dagger from the mould and then throw and hit his target are wonderfully inept leaving me wondering why he didn’t just bring one of his large collection of guns along as a back-up plan. The daggers also seem rather friable although they work well enough in the dummy he has brought along to the hotel room in order to practice his technique.

Added in to all this farce, there is a rather sweet romance which develops between Kamal Hassan and the hotel magician’s daughter, beautifully played by Amala. The film builds to a moralistic but somewhat poignant ending where everyone appears to have learned that money cannot buy everything and that there is more to life than wealth.

Of necessity the acting in a silent film has to be more obvious when there is no dialogue to explain the reasons behind people’s actions. However the various characters here are explained by a few simple scenes which give a clear understanding of their personality and there isn’t really any heavy-handed overacting by the lead actors. As with many of the early silent films there is a high reliance on slap-stick humour and most of this involves the efforts by Kamal Hassan to keep his prisoner quietly hidden and the assassin’s attempts on Kamal Hassan’s life. There is a lot of toilet humour as Kamal Hassan goes to rather detailed lengths to make sure his prisoner is relatively comfortable throughout his captivity and there is perhaps a little too much detail for it to be really funny. Rather, I was impressed by the ingenuity shown in the ‘waste disposal’ plan, although perhaps this is to be expected in a college graduate.

Where the film works best is in the small details. For example the large sign on top of the adjacent cinema which reads ‘Talkies’, and Kamal Hassan flexing his muscles with a Rambo poster in the background above. One of the standout moments in the film is the intricate choreography enacted as a number of building residents vie for the bathrooms in the morning.  

The opening scenes of the film give a snapshot view into the lives of the various residents of the building and also show the type of man Kamal Hassan is. He is not averse to spying on his neighbour as she fixes her sari, carefully washes only the underarms of the shirt he means to wear that day and tries to skip ahead in the employment lines. All these little traits allow us to build up the impression of a man who, when tempted, would possibly be amoral enough to kidnap a man and take over his life.

I also like that frequently there is a reason for there to be no dialogue as part of the storyline and this makes it easy to forget that it’s a silent film. The magician’s daughter and Kamal Hassan communicate by gestures across rooms and from balconies on opposite sides of the hotel as well as when she is onstage with her father, while the millionaire is both drunk and incoherent or gagged.

The film looks fantastic and the contrast between the two social worlds is reflected in the different lighting between the rooming house and the hotel. The hotel décor is lavish and there is plenty of attention to detail throughout. I kept wondering if the Windsor Manor Hotel in Bangalore where this was filmed still has all those huge lift lobbies and chandeliers as it looks amazing.

The hotel logo of a circle and wings recurs a number of times, and I agree with other opinions that it is meant to represent dreams and wishes. When an ice-cream is dropped on the ground, it’s Kamal Hassan’s shadow that we see reaching out for the treat, and again it’s fallen right in the middle of the shadow of the hotel symbol. I think that his inner feelings are very well represented in this way.

Much is also made of the death of a beggar, who actually has much more money than the unemployed Kamal Hassan, but whose corpse is unceremoniously dumped at the side of the road when his stash is revealed and everyone fights to get a share. This is also contrasted with the death of the hotel owner who has a parade of people who come to mourn him, but their grief isn’t all genuine either. Just in case Kamal Hassan was slow to get the message about money not buying happiness, Amala turns down his offers of clothes and household white goods (yes really!) when he takes her shopping, and asks for a wild flower growing on a ruined building instead.

Kamal Hassan is excellent in his portrayal of the unemployed and perpetually unsuccessful graduate, as he manages to express so much very simply without words. His economies with toothpaste and washing powder initially made me a little more sympathetic towards his character and although his treatment of the millionaire was terrible, it was all made a little more believable by the amount of detail shown in the scenes where he was looking after his prisoner.  Amala was beautiful as the magician’s daughter, although as usual for a Tamil heroine, she didn’t really have much to do. She was the moral compass for Kamal Hassan and as such played her role perfectly. Both Tinnu Anand and K. S Ramesh as the magician looked to be having the time of their lives in their roles and I suspect they spent a lot of their time laughing about what they were actually getting to do on-screen.

I do have a few small issues with the film even though overall I think it’s an entertaining watch.  The story is really quite simplistic and without dialogue it occasionally feels like a collection of very good ‘moments’ all strung together with some unnecessarily long repetitive comedic scenes. These don’t really add anything to the story or to my understanding of the characters and tend to just be irritating instead. The long scene where Kamal Hasan dresses up as a hotel employee to give the magician’s daughter some earrings could very easily have been skipped for example. In contrast the inept assassin and the magician scenes are funny and well handled. I also think that keeping someone tied up and insensible with alcohol does seem very extreme and it’s very unlikely that the millionaire would just go home without contacting the police. Especially in this instance where he had evidence that the whole experience wasn’t just an alcohol induced dream. And really while money may not buy you happiness, it certainly can buy comfort which is not to be sneezed at – the overly moral tone in parts was a little overbearing. But there are so many good things about this film that I can ignore these little irritations and just appreciate the acting skills that bring this silent movie to vibrant life. It’s an interesting and quite unusual film and I think that Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and Kamal Hassan deserve praise for attempting something so very different and managing to pull it off in such style. 4 stars.