Manigandan KR
Chennai, 01 Dec 2017 17:21 IST
Actor Vijay Antony, who is known to have a penchant for picking the right scripts, seems to have made a serious mistake.
Music director, actor, producer Vijay Antony has been able to become a bankable star, primarily because of his ability to pick the right scripts. The man has seldom made a mistake when it comes to picking stories and making them into films. However, this time, he seems to have erred and erred big time.
Annadurai, which starts off promisingly, soon fizzles into a montonous, dreary drama that leaves you huffing and puffing in your seat. So boring is the film that although it has a runtime of just two hours and eight minutes, it comes across as being a four-and-a-half hour film. Vijay Antony plays two roles in this film, which has been let down by its screenplay.
Annadurai (Vijay Antony) is the elder son of a respected couple in a small town of Tamil Nadu. He has a younger brother called Thambidurai (also played by Vijay Antony) who works as a physical trainer in a school in the town. Although an altruist at heart, Annadurai has a problem. He has turned an alcoholic after the death of Esther, a girl he was in love with.
Although he is an alcoholic, Annadurai has the respect of the locals as he has a tendency to help those in need. Often the man takes clothes and money from his dad's textile shop and gives it to the poor and the needy. That apart, Annadurai's dad is also the president of the traders' association there.
It is under these circumstances that one day Annadurai chooses to help a friend (Kaali Venkat) by recommending him to a financier. The friend wants to set up a biryani stall and turns to Annadurai for financial help. Annadurai, in turn, brings him to a financier, who is notorious for his ruthless and inhumane ways of recovering dues.
Unknown to Annadurai, the financier has been wanting to unseat Annadurai's father from the post of the president of the traders' association for a very long time. He has been nursing hopes of becoming the president himself someday. Now, when Annadurai approaches him for money, he sees an opportunity and asks him to stand guarantee for his friend. An unsuspecting Annadurai turns guarantor and leaves.
Days pass and in due course, the parents fix the wedding of their second son Thambidurai with Revathi (Diana Champika), the daughter of a family friend (Senthil). Thambidurai and Revathi soon fall in love and begin to await their wedding day eagerly.
Meanwhile, when Annadurai's friend is unable to pay interest to the financier on time, the financier holds Annadurai accountable. He exploits the situation to the maximum and soon, Annadurai and his family members have to face one problem after another.
Until now, Vijay Antony had realised his strengths and had stuck to them. In Annadurai, he has let go of his strengths in his eagerness to experiment and that seems to have delivered a fateful blow to the manner in which the film has come out.
The actor, whose calm and composed demeanour has often fetched him a number of fans, tries to overact in this film and that comes across as being silly. In fact, you wish Vijay Antony will continue to be the same soft-spoken hero you know him to be on and off the screen. Simply speaking, Vijay Antony has tried to portray himself as a mass hero in this film and sadly, that does not work.
That apart, the dialogues are a big let down. Redundancy is a problem that the team could have done without. Several dialogues are repeated and this only annoys audiences. There is too much emotional drama, making it a dreary affair. The film has two good performances. One is from Kaali Venkat, who, as usual, delivers convincingly. The other comes from Senthil who plays the soon-to-be father-in-law of Vijay Antony. Senthil, who is a jouranlist in real life, plays the role convincingly and with a certain degree of comfort.
Vijay Antony's music works in this film too, as does cinematographer Dillraj's work with the camera. What does not work is the editing, which again is by Vijay Antony. The music director-turned-producer-turned-hero has tried his hand at editing too in this film. Unfortunately, he isn't as good when it comes to editing as he is when he is scoring music for films.
A complex script with a winding storyline makes it very cumbersome for viewers and audiences and make the film a bore. In short, Annadurai leaves you drained.