In
fact, his earlier 3 had some amount of resemblance
between them in the subject, in the sense
that all dealt with some form of corruption.
But they were told in a convincing way with
some very powerful scenes. And public loved
them because we always like movies that blame
cops, government and politicians (even for
the wrong that WE do).
Here in Anniyan , he tried to do something
significantly different. Though the acting
was great and the movie was technically sound,
this movie didn’t come out very powerful
like his earlier ones and I’m sure many
feel this way.
His
message should have been more refined: Be
a decent citizen by doing atleast things that
are 100% controllable by you as a person.
i.e. No scope for blaming on politicians,
government or society.
Here is my view of why I felt it was not very
powerful and convincing.
Key
problem in Anniyan story and screenplay: The
message was not clearly visioned and conveyed.
I think the Garuda Puranam drove his script.
He probably picked the different killings
first and then tried to stitch a script around
that. While his research about the Puranam
was interesting and a highlight of the film,
I’m afraid, that caused the script to
become weak and less powerful. Also, his core
person Ambi is a lawyer - a lawyer in India
is far different from general public. He knows
rules to try and handle cops and government
officials, but common man doesn’t. That
makes it difficult for public to identify
with his feelings.
His
message should have been more refined: Be
a decent citizen by doing atleast things that
are 100% controllable by you as a person.
i.e. No scope for blaming on politicians or
society.
Let
us analyze the scenes he showed:
Not
taking the injured man in a NEW Car: This
is a disaster in his script. There
is a difference between being human and being
noble. When trying to improve the society,
the first step is to try and be human –
not noble. 99 out of 100 will
not stop their car, not to mention new car
in this case, in that situation (given the
implications of common man’s fear of
police and court). Maybe 1 noble person would.
To expect everyone to be noble is not feasible.
So the reason to kill him is not one bit convincing
for an ordinary man.
Food
Supplier: This was not very good either. But
atleast here he threw a lizard
into the curry, to convince us that he deserved
to be killed. But in reality, Anniyan doesn’t
know about the lizard. All he hates is the
fact the he is providing sub-standard food
for the price he charges. While it is wrong
to cheat by supplying inferior food, the reason
I feel that this is not convincing is because,
his price is most likely driven by the bribe
he has to pay the Railways, etc .. to get
the supplier contract – i.e. he has
a finger to point to and justify the bad he
is doing. This is the case with most things
in our society were the corruption system
has become a common thing that we live with
and do not feel guilty.(He already dealt very
well about that in Indian.)
Sada
purchasing Land : Same as above.
Black Money: Always the get away reason is
- why pay taxes for the gov that does nothing
for me.
Undervalue registration: black money + partly
to compensate for bribes she has
to pay at the registrar’s office.
Brake
wire manufacturer : Not very convincing. He
didn’t show him go to the Dealer to
get original spares. He showed him go to some
local store to buy cheap product – so
that lost the impact. Personally, this situation
itself is not convincing, but it would have
been better if he atleast showed him go to
an authorized dealer and get an OEM part that
snapped on him. The intention that
people should not manufacture bad products
especially when it has life threatening implications
is good, but doesn’t sell well with
the subject he is trying to convey here. Also,
to repeat again, the manufacture has to pay
x,y,z bribes to set up the unit, etc…
leading him to make up those costs by making
substandard product, like the food supplier.
These
situations basically spoilt the theme of the
movie and got lukewarm reception.
Things
that came across well - accepted and appreciated
are :
Spitting on the road.
Disobeying traffic rules.
Charlie’s laziness.
It
would have been more powerful and convincing
if he showed only situations that are clearly
controllable by an individual (self- control):
The
situations should have been something in these
lines:
Spitting
on the road: (100% attributed to the individual
– difficult to blame x,y,z).
Sticking
Bubble gum under the classroom and theatre
seats: Could show a student sticking a bubble
gum under the desk and punished him. This
is a very common action that is totally controllable
by one-self.
Throwing
garbage carelessly: I would have loved it
if he showed Vikram killing
someone landing in Madras from US/Singapore
and then opening up a cigratte
packed and throwing a wrapper down on the
airport floor. – Or a person dumping
garbage over their compound wall into barren
land instead of dumping it in the municipal
dumpster at the end of the street.
.
Disobeying Traffic rules : This is an excellent
area. He touched on it. He could have gone
more into it and showed killing of a person
here for disobeying. No reason why a person
should skip red, go into the opposite lane,
drive without proper papers, or proper vehicle.
If we do that, then that gives a lesser chance
for cop to expect a bribe and this is really
a first step towards improving society.
Under-age
driving without license : This would have
been very powerful. People give a damn to
age eligibility for driving. Everyone in our
country including you and me start to drive
under-age without license. Though there are
rules on what kind you can drive at what age
(like you can drive <50 cc vehicles from
15 I think, and need to be 18 to drive cars,etc..)
we don’t respect them. But we follow
it religiously in foreign countries. These
are the kind of things I expected Shankar
to show. He should have killed the Dad ( and
may be the son too) who bought a bike for
his under-age son. Who else can you blame
for this act that endangers others lives on
the road?
If
he showed such situations, the movie would
have been even more powerful and convincing
and we would not have got the feel of deja-vu
from his earlier films.
Still,
Anniyan is a well made movie by master director
Shankar …
