Anbe Diana - An enjoyable comedy drama that also doubles up as a social satire!

Bharath Vijaykumar

Anbe Diana starts with a bird’s eye view of Perambur. This is the typical first shot of many a film. But in Anbe Diana, it is quite significant, because the locality of Perambur does play a huge part in the film. In fact, it is the USP of the film. We are given a quick glance of the bustling life of Perambur as the camera captures the busy streets and shops and food delicacies. There is even a wall painting of the current Chief Minister (he contested from Perambur in the most recent State elections). The novelty that Anbe Diana lacks in the premise, is made up for, with this backdrop, that is an amalgamation of different cultures and languages.

The premise of Anbe Diana is as old as the hills. Two people belonging to different cultures, fall in love. Here, culture implies almost every social demarcation including caste, religion and language. But Pari Elavazhagan cooks up an enjoyable comedy drama with more focus on the vibrant characters that inhabit the film. Almost everyone in the film has a certain eccentric streak. Nothing over the top, but the kind you see in comedy films. The performances occupy the range that you can call as 'loud but metered'. Anbe Diana is mostly a comedy. You can call it a comedy drama, because at its core, it is dealing with human relationships and emotions.



Pari Elavazhagan attempts to take a dig at all the social evils in Anbe Diana. The film never turns into a sermon and the most interesting aspect of it is that there is no hero delivering the message. Almost all the characters including the hero are flawed, but from different perspectives. Someone who is casteist, is shown as being a responsible individual. Someone who is progressive at the surface, is insecure about his girl. The list goes on. The gist is that the film gives a holistic view of the characters and the equations between them rather than a good vs bad narrative. At a point, I wondered if the film was trying to justify some of the characters for practicing 'social evils', but thankfully that never happens. The scene where Roja talks about how caste played a crucial part in her survival is one such. The scene initially feels like it is leading the audience towards aligning with her thought process, but then a very simple rebuttal from Pari in that scene sets things right.

The film does have convenient writing at a few places to create humour. This dilutes the impact a little. For instance, in the earlier part of the film, the heroine calls the hero to introduce him to her uncle, and he assumes it is because she wants to propose to him. We know where the scene is heading to, but the impact of the joke is diluted because when the reason she calls him is revealed, it doesn't feel real. And so is the twist involving Gopi (Bangalore Baba) towards the climax. Why is the hero angry for what happens, when ideally, he should be relieved and happy.


But the laughter hits the roof at certain other places. There is one scene with Chetan taking centre stage that comes to mind. Chetan is terrific in comedy in Anbe Diana. Pari is likeable as the hero. Ramya Ranganathan is quite good and some of the comedy really works because of her.


Bottomline :

Verdict: 3.25/5