BOTTOM LINE
Different but bad
CENSOR
138 mins, ‘U/A’ Certified.
OUR RATING
What is “Anaamika” about?
Anaamika is all about search of a wife to find her missing husband.
How is Nayanatara’s performance?
Nayanatara is the soul of the movie. She is superb in her role and tries her best to carry the movie throughout on her shoulders. The actress performs well in the key scenes and delivers what is expected of her.
Direction by Sekhar Kammula?
Sekhar Kammula has so far done films that deal with emotions in subtle ways toning down the loudness that is generally associated with such films in Telugu cinema. Here for the first time the director gets to do a thriller whose dynamics are far removed from anything that he has done before. The problem with Anaamika arises because of this touch of director. He pretty much handles the thriller as an emotional drama and tries to create the suspense purely using the background score. But that is not how thrillers are done and hence there are severe pacing issues and even the narrative is such that it never gives us any thrill. Overall the failure of the film is purely the failure of Sekhar Kammula as a director in handling the genre.
Vaibhav and Other artists performance?
Vaibhav is seen doing a direct Telugu film after a long time. He is perfectly fit for the role he plays and does well overall. However he fails to get the nitty gritty of the character right. Pasupathi too is seen playing an important character after a long time in Telugu. He too is fine though he goes overboard at times. Among the rest of the characters only the actor playing the hotel owner makes a mark along with small kid playing Raju.
How is M M Keeravani’s Music and others?
There are no songs used fully in the narrative hence the music by Keeravani fails to make any mark. But the veteran shows his mastery once again through the background score of the film which elevates the film all the way till the end. Cinematography is good capturing the old city Hyderabad well. Editing could have been sharper.
Highlights?
Nayanatara
Background score.
Old city backdrop.
Climax.
Drawbacks?
Usage of Hindi at crucial moments.
Sloppy screenplay.
Lack of thrilling moments.
What about the box office performance of the film?
The film has come with absolutely zero buzz and hence the openings are poor. The content of the film is already limiting the audience, the execution makes the matter worse. The film should find it hard to survive even without any competition at the box office.
Did I enjoy it?
Having seen the original – no.
Will you recommend it?
Only to the lovers of thrillers who have not seen the original.
OUR RATING
Reviewed by Siddhartha
