Indrans’ standout performance deserves a sharper screenplay than this over-edited, all-too-familiar revenge saga, rues Sreeju Sudhakaran.
Key Points
- Murali Gopy’s screenplay for Ananthan Kaadu attempts political and philosophical commentary but struggles with an average plotline.
- The film suffers from hyperactive editing, with constant cuts and camera angle changes that diminish the impact of crucial scenes.
- Despite heavy promotion around Tamil star Arya, his character’s arc feels inessential, and his ‘superstar treatment’ often disrupts the narrative flow.
I believe every Malayali viewer knows by now that whenever Murali Gopy pens a screenplay, his political observations find their way into it, often to varying degrees of obviousness.
His latest writing effort, Ananthan Kaadu, is no different.
Set in the early 1990s, the dark action drama draws heavily from real-life events of the era, beginning with the insurgency in Sri Lanka and the atrocities committed against Tamils by the Sri Lankan army to the political happenings in Kerala.
He also likes to inject philosophical musings, like the scene where a character narrates a story, or rather a riddle, that explains why the film is called Ananthan Kaadu.
There is nothing wrong with a screenwriter going political or philosophical. Hey, all movies are political in some way or the other. The issue with Murali Gopy’s screenplays is that these musings often have to carry the burden of plotlines that never rise beyond the very average.
Ananthan Kaadu, unfortunately, is no exception here. Just like his last writing effort, L2: Empuraan.
You can see how his writing is stuck in just one zone, where both films begin with a massacre involving disturbing violence and sexual assault, and end with a character fulfilling his revenge that he has been harbouring from his teens.
Plot and Character Dynamics
Even though the film has been heavily promoted around Tamil star Arya’s presence, and the main narrative begins with his tragic and violent backstory in Sri Lanka, Ananthan Kaadu isn’t actually about his character.
The movie is more about a former quotation gang quartet consisting of Krishnankutty (Indrans), Thankaraj (Murali Gopy), Murali (Dev Mohan) and Jackson (Appani Sharath), who live in a slum in Thiruvananthapuram.
The gang used to carry out killings on behalf of Kerala Chief Minister K K Menon (Vijayaraghavan), through his trusted police officer Sampath Rao (Sunil). They have left their old ways behind and are now struggling to make a living as a musical band.
It is around that time that Mani, whose real name is Vetri (Arya), comes to stay with them.
Soon enough, the gang is forced to return to its old ways one last time, now with Mani’s assistance, when Menon orders them to carry out a major hit on a political adversary.
Editing Woes, Narrative Flaws
Ananthan Kaadu is directed by Jiyen Krishnakumar, whose previous notable films include College Days, an okayish thriller, and Tiyaan, a political social drama, the latter also scripted by Murali Gopy.
If I ever met the director, I would ask him, ‘Sir, did you not watch your movie before sending it to theatres?’
If you did, did you not feel a sense of nausea?
Why, you ask? Because Ananthan Kaadu is edited in such a manner that I want to believe they were aiming for a Guinness World Record for the maximum number of cuts in a minute.
No shot is allowed to linger.
Every sequence, whether it is just people conversing or the film indulging in violent and disturbing moments, simply flits through multiple cuts and camera angles within seconds.
You have seen warnings before films and shows about strobe lighting, right? Ananthan Kaadu needs one such warning for its hyperactive editing.
What it also does is rob several scenes, including crucial dramatic moments, of their impact because it refuses to let us register what is actually happening.
Which is already a problem in a film whose writing promises an ambitious political commentary by attempting to tie the Sri Lankan genocide with the goonda activities of Thiruvananthapuram, only to reduce everything to a revenge drama that you have seen umpteen times before.
Caricatured Villains, Forced Star Power
This is particularly evident in how the film treats its villains. Vijayaraghavan is aptly menacing as the cunning chief minister, but his arc is far too predictable, especially his plans involving the hit squad.
Sunil’s police officer comes with a sadistic streak that is largely one-note. The only supposedly intriguing thing about him is that he is a widower with a daughter. Otherwise, he is cruel to the point of becoming boring, stubbing cigars either on a butterfly or on his concubine’s body while grinning menacingly at the camera.
Arya’s track doesn’t even feel essential to the plot when you think about it, considering the plot of the film is driven more through the gang of four. But he is the star attraction, so he gets the superstar treatment. That means B Ajaneesh Loknath’s background score has to explode whenever he is reintroduced.
He has to get action scenes where he is virtually unbeatable, even when the film didn’t really need those scenes. The karate academy sequence, in particular, exists purely for his mass appeal, though I doubt audiences in Kerala are really craving that.
Even Mani’s ambush on the villains in the finale panders to the same formula.
I could have forgiven these needless scenes if the editing hadn’t continued to ruin even the action. Sadly…
Wasted Talent, Missed Opportunities
For a film that cannot properly justify its biggest star’s inclusion, Ananthan Kaadu certainly has quite a few notable actors in the cast and multiple side tracks that ultimately amount to very little.
Nikhila Vimal, for example, is wasted as Murali’s love interest, with their track barely given a couple of scenes to breathe.
Santhy Balachandran, who plays Rao’s abused concubine, has the biggest female role in the film, but it mainly consists of her expressing anguish over her situation, giving Mani a ‘knight in shining armour’ moment, and then making a melodramatic exit.
There is also a random song sequence featuring Bharath and Regena Cassandra, inserted purely for a reveal that never really needed it. Regena certainly has a part to play in the drama, but did that minuscule role require her presence? I don’t think so.
Actors like Achyuth Kumar, Kala Ranjini, Anjali P Nair and Bose Venkat suffer from the wafer-thin writing or lack of screentime for their parts.
Indrans, Murali Gopy Stand Out
Ananthan Kaadu is at its most engaging when it focuses on the dynamic between the gang, with Krishnankutty and Thankaraj emerging as the standouts.
Indrans, who is enjoying a glorious second innings as a dramatic actor, brings his own brand of mass appeal as the gang leader, and I loved how the film frames him with such authority in several scenes. Particularly the one where he and his team confront a policeman at his house.
While Murali Gopy’s writing is far from impressive here, he fares much better as an actor. His standout moment comes when he goes to a college to take on a group of political goons. Sure, the scene once again allows him to voice one of his political stances, but the performance works.
Appani Sharath is solid, while Dev Mohan, as the romantic member of the gang, is merely adequate, with both characters getting little to no scope of development.
The film gains some momentum when the gang realises that the tables are turning on them, but the necessary emotional impact is missing because the film never pauses long enough to develop their bonhomie.
And, of course, because it also keeps trying to force Arya’s character into the middle of it all.
By the way, if you want to watch a genuinely good story about a gang rising from the slums of Thiruvananthapuram, do check out Krishand’s SonyLIV series Sambhava Vivaranam Naalara Sangham (The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang). Thank me later!
