Nayanathara’s ‘Anaamika’ is releasing today across the world in Telugu and Tamil. The movie has been directed by Shekhar Kammula, who is known for making strong story based movies. Viacom 18 and Logline Productions produced the movie, with music from Keeravani. Let us check out the movie now.
Story :
Anaamika (Nayanathara) comes to India from Gettysburg USA, in search of her missing husband Ajay (Harshavardhan Rane). She reaches the Old City area in Hyderabad and starts looking around for her husband in the Galaxy Hotel area, where he was last seen.
She also files a complaint with the local police station. As an NRI and a single woman, she is quite fed up with the attitude of the police officers who refuse to take her seriously. However, one man comes to her rescue and that is Inspector Sarathy (Vaibhav Reddy).
They begin searching for her missing husband but very soon, big forces come into play. The Home Minister (Naresh) gets involved in the matter and he tasks Officer Khan (Pasupathy) with the recovery of a hard disk that is central to the mystery.
The lives of Sarathy and Anaamika are in danger, as ruthless people try to protect a dark secret. How Anaamika gets to the bottom of the mystery and solves her problems is what this story is all about.
Plus Points :
Nayanathara is simple and effective as Anaamika. She has portrayed various emotions convincingly. She has pulled off two extremely contrasting emotions of fear and revenge quite well. Vaibhav is good as the sympathetic police inspector. Harshavardhan Rane has a brief role and he has done well.
Pasupathy and Naresh do their bit in small but important roles. The galaxy hotel manager is funny at times.
The second half of this movie is very good. Speed of narration is really good and all the dots in the mystery have been connected well by the writers. When compared to ‘Kahaani’, there are some changes in the story to make it more appealing to Telugu viewers, like the addition of a sex starved CI who lusts after Nayanathara.
There is a good emotional angle to the film and this becomes more evident as the movie reaches its climax. You can identify with the pain that Nayanathara is going through and you want her to win.
Keeravani’s background music is brilliant and it is a major plus for the movie.
Minus Points :
There are a few unexplained gaps in the story, but these are answered to a certain extent during the ‘Addam lo Ammai’ song in the rolling titles. Many people walk out of the theatres during such scenes and they might miss these clues.
Some scenes and mystery links should have been explained in a more elaborate manner by the director, as viewers in C centres etc may not understand the subtle points of the plot. The scenes where Vaibhav finally realises the truth etc are an example. The movie’s appeal will therefore be limited to A centres and multiplexes only.
A slow and slightly boring first half can affect the movie. Had the first half been as racy as the second, we would have had a brilliant suspense thriller on our hands.
Technical Aspects :
Cinematography is very good and is in keeping with the mood of the film. Shekhar Kammula has revealed in an interview that we intentionally went for harsh lighting etc for this movie. Editing is very good in the second half, but could have been better in the first half. We have already spoken about the brilliance of Mr. Keeravani
Shekhar Kammula is a talented director and he redeems himself with a very good second half. His strength lies in showcasing various human emotions in a very sensitive manner and even in a suspense thriller, he has managed to do that. He should have taken better care about the first half though.
Verdict :
‘Anaamika’ is a very gripping thriller that surely deserves a watch for good performances from Nayanathara and Vaibhav. Keeravani’s terrific background score and clever writing help the movie significantly. A slow first half lessens the impact a bit, but overall, this is a nice film from Shekhar Kammula.
123telugu.com Rating – 3.25 /5
Reviewed by 123telugu Team
