Anjaamai Review - Good Intent Gone Wrong By Fumble Filmmaking

Ashwin Ram

Anjaamai is a social drama starring Vidharth, Vani Bhojan and Rahman in the lead roles. Directed by S.P. Subburaman and presented by Dream Warrior Pictures.

Premise:

Vidharth’s son is very good at studies and he wishes to become a doctor. What difficulties the family goes through to write The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) aka the NEET exam, and how it leads them to file a case against the Government forms the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction:

The film discusses an important topic about how the students and parents are struggling with the process of writing the NEET exam. One good thing is that the film is not completely against the concept of the NEET entrance exam just for the sake of it, it voices how it should be conducted in a more professional manner. There are a couple of good takeaways, how the students suffered at the security check before entering the exam halls is well-researched and showcased and a few points exhibited at court sessions are clap-worthy. Also the ending was very realistic, adapting to the current situation for the issue in real-life. The film for the most part is very hard to consume, mainly because of the craft being terrible. The entire first half establishes nothing but sadness, and the manner in which it is implemented is very amateurish. The exaggerated reaction from a police officer at the opening scene when a boy angers to file a case against the Government is maintained throughout, every scene is over-the-top. The seriously intended courtroom proceedings land in a comical way,  by forcefully trying to incorporate cinematic drama. Despite a relevant topic, there is absolutely no connection with the characters and situations, it shows the poor filmmaking skills of the director. Only when a family is happy and then the graph goes down to them being sad, there will be empathy towards them, the only sorrow technique never really works.

Performances:

Vidharth would have been a good fit for the struggling middle class father role if the treatment was subtle, but there are many weirdly loud moments which makes him awkward on-screen. Minimal screen time for Vani Bhojan and she does what is required. Actor Krithik Mohan plays the central character of the student who is going through the NEET examination, he is good when he is innocent and calm, but he gets caught pathetically portraying himself during the overly aggressive moments. Rahman is the worst of the lot, no big errors in his performance, but some random person has given voice for him which makes his portions feel like a dubbing movie, it was that crass. The opposition lawyer is too funny to handle, his voice, acting, literally everything was so lame.

Technicalities: 

Such an horrible musical treatment overall, very bad songs with notorious timing for placements. The background score was also random and didn’t really fit the bill. Low quality cinematography with such lethargic shot compositions and sometimes the visual clarity feels as if the frames are inserted from the 80s. Nothing more and nothing less in terms of editing also, very flat with barely any effort.

Bottomline

Appreciable for its honest attempt to voice-out against the heights of atrocities done to conduct NEET exams. But the amateurish presentation and torturous screenplay make it a bad watch.

Rating - 2/ 5