Angane Thanne Nethave Anjettennam Pinnale Malayalam Movie
The title 'Angane Thanne Nethave... Anjettennam Pinnale' does sound a bit too bizarre, and states vehemently that it has serious intentions of being a political satire. What it does turn out to be however is a half-baked film that fails to draw out the potentials that its very promising premise held!
The story of the film is set in Perumal Desham, a small hamlet where politics has not as yet extended its vile claws into. Karthika Perumal (Narein) is a leading farmer at Perumal Desham, who crosses horns with the newly appointed agricultural officer Anu (Meera Nandan). Paala Thankachan (Mukesh) arrives at Desham with a malicious intention of introducing political power games at the place, and assigns Wilson Puthuppally (Ramesh Pisharady) to do the job!
Essentially the theme of the film has a semblance to Priyanandanan's 'Njan Ninnodu Koode Undu' that also talks of an unsullied land that gets blemished with the arrival of money. In 'Angane Thanne Nethave... Anjettennam Pinnale' however, the focus is on politics and booze, and how they rob a hardworking, amenable community of their peace!
Where it falters is in its characterization, with the protagonist himself being drawn in larger than life lines.
The initial antagonism between Anu and Karthi does bring in memories of the eighties, and you rest assured that romance will inevitably bloom. It does, and thereafter there aren't any surprises in store!
Karthi himself assumes a humble self, with the villagers looking up to him and offering him a demi-god status. That he is the son of the local landlord (Saikumar) adds to his prowess, and when Anu discovers that the man is a visiting professor to many a foreign universities, you realize that the trumpets have been blown perhaps a bit too loud.
There is also a parallel narrative that involves the gradual induction of venom into the naïve spirit of a village. With politics comes the hartal, gambling and the never ending flow of alcohol. Mayhem and turmoil prevail.
Though it seems for a while initially that this might be a film that walks a different path, it very soon becomes obvious that the one hundred and twenty five minutes of running time that it has doesn't have many scenes in it that are hard to anticipate. Predictability is a major downside, and believe me, it shows.
It's good to see Narein back in action in Malayalam, after a while, and he does a decent job as always of playing the environmentalist. Meera Nandan comes across as a bit too loud at times, while the actor who plays her colleague performs remarkably well. Shanavas does look like a promising actor, and I am sure we will get to see him more often on the big screen! There is sadly nothing to go gaga over when it comes to either the cinematography by Anil Nair or the musical score by M Jayachandran.
Despite the kick start momentum that 'Angane Thanne Nethave... Anjettennam Pinnale' displays, it hardly makes any sturdy moves forward. Here is a novel setting that gets blown to the winds (non)courtesy a mediocre narrative, with the viewers moving way ahead of the middling script!
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