Anjaamai Movie Review: Honest intentions alone cannot save the film from being a drab

2/5

Anjaamai story

Said to be based on true events that took place in 2017, Anjaamai is about a struggling family of four from a rural town in Tamil Nadu. With their son Arundhavam (Krithik Mohan) being bright in studies and aspiring to be a doctor, father Sarkar (Vidaarth) goes all lengths to make his dreams come true. Even to the extent of leaving his stage life as a theatre artist and resorting to being a flower farmer in order to fend off his son’s education. However, despite bagging top honours in school exams, Arundhavam and Sarkar face battles when NEET exams pose obstacles.

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Anjaamai review

Are honest intentions enough to making a moving piece of cinema? Are dialogues and statistics stacked one on top of the other, coupled with dynamic emotional ride to tug your heartstrings, enough to make a point on a concerning topic debated on national level? Anjaamai leaves with you wondering answers for these questions than delivering you with a hard-hitting socio-political drama.

Anjaamai deals with a subject matter that is a burning ground of sensation, controversy, opposition, and debate, especially in Tamil Nadu. The requirement for NEET exams which serves as a precursor for medical college admissions and the opposing views of millions of students and their families, citing the pressure it creates. Even as Anjaamai delves into this, the film barely is able to hold on to its core values and points but becomes a concoction of melodrama and courtroom drama. For example, the first step Sarkar does after getting nightmares of his son hanging himself on ceiling fan due to NEET pressure, is to fit pedestal fans at his home. However, innocent Sarkar may sound, it reflects poorly on the writing choices of the film which easily ignores the larger issue by stacking up simpleton ideas. In another case, we see Sarkar ditching his stage life and resorting to flower farming for a better livelihood after his wife reprimands him of his job. For a film that talks about the struggles of the under privileged, making its primary characters talk down upon another struggling profession seems to be off-putting in many ways.

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In Anjaamai, the makers choose to address a particular topic with the NEET exam, to make its point. With how students from Tamil Nadu are given exam centres across states, making them undertake strenuous travel and stress, the film fails to capitalise on this point. Even as the film dedicates a major portion to this and sometimes tends to milk the frisking which borderlines with harassment and abuse, Anjaamai seems to employ such scenes only to build momentarily sensation rather than convey its true intentions. The film, rather than evoking the ground reality of raging emotions, flippantly relies on shock values and sympathy evocation. For example, we are told in a passing reference that a boy wearing red shirt is not allowed inside the exam hall. A quick Google search shows me different answers and the movie doesn’t provide me enough about the piece of information it wants to depart.

However, on the brighter side, the cast comprising of Vidaarth, Vani Bhojan and Krithik Mohan, with Rahman playing a lawyer to takes up the case on behalf of the family put up a decent show. Rahman’s Manickam, a police official who turns into lawyer, becomes an example of saviour complex. We are not told whatsoever how a police official suddenly turns into a lawyer, batting for the case, The antagonists, or rather the authorities, are made to look like cardboard templates, or as you can say “corporate villains” becoming an archaic way of stacking up the antagonists.

Also read: Anjaamai: Vidaarth and Vani Bhojan appear as happy family in first look, more deets inside 

Anjaamai verdict

With just two hours of runtime, Anjaamai unpacks all its intentions and puts forth on the table. We know the film is strongly advocating for the under-privileged, how government loopholes and authorities affect the down-trodden. But instead on delving into the details, the film merely presents us with collection of emotional clips and template narrative, that does not make you want to get attached and invested into the film.