Anwar- Reviews

Cast: Prithviraj, Mamtha Mohandas, Prakash Raj
Direction: Amal Neerad
Production: Rajesh Zacharias
Music: Gopi Sundar

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Anwar’ is something that we expect from Amal Neerad. A technically perfect offering with that savvy technocrat with plenty of slow motion walks, SUV’s, jackets, beachside visuals, and expected U-turns, the movie only suffers much from a script line that harms than heals the film. A perfect landing for a thought provoking product, the movie couldn’t make the greater use of it as the creators just seems to have thought about making a thriller, than concentrating on the core issues, that forms its subject.

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Loosely resembling the sequences of Don Cheadle’s ‘Traitor’ and the recent Hindi movie ‘Don’, the movie reminds us of the well made sequences of ‘Big B’ at many points. More a director’s movie than a Prithviraj flick, the movie just reassures us of the need and importance of more, dedicated youths in Mollywood.

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The movie opens with the visuals of Coimbatore bomb blast and the introduction of a special team under Stalin Manimaran (Prakash Raj) who arrests Babu Sait [Lal], a local community leader as a suspect in the bomb blast case. Meanwhile, Anwar [Prithviraj] a Muslim youth is arrested while passing on with some Hawala money and is sent to jail with Babu Sait and his team. Babu Sait helps Anwar in getting a bail and lures him to his activities. Soon he becomes the most trusted and obedient right hand of Babu Sait. Anwar succeeds in planting a bomb in the police headquarters and is soon introduced to Basheer Bhai [Sampath], who selects him to spearhead another big, but dangerous project of chain blasts. Though Anwar goes on with their plans, he has a haunting flashback which makes him to act differently from the already laid out designs.

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While becoming a rare movie dealing with terrorism in Mollywood, the movie could have fared better if it would have attempted to say more about the minds of those involved in terrorist activities and the circumstances that make them to be one. But here relying much on TV and newspaper reports, than on going deeper into the menacing issue, the chances for a much remembered flick vanishes from spectator’s mind. Sequences showing emotional turbulence are very less that we are left to watch just another thriller in the mould of Amal’s previous flicks.

Prithviraj as the title character of Anwar Ahamed, has done a fine job and makes the proceedings believable. Even in the action sequences where he takes on ten men at a time, there is some sort of believable essence that is provided by his physique and mannerisms. Prakash Raj and Lal excel in their roles while Salim Kumar and Mamtha also do justice to the selection for the roles that they portray.
The technical sides are superb with Satheesh Kurup’s visuals supporting effectively the mood of the movie. The explosion scenes and song sequences are the other highlights of the flick which is wisely edited by Vivek Harshan. Gopi Sundar once again lends his best to Amal in creating enchanting and involving BG scores. His songs in the movie are hum-able, though ‘Khalbile thee’ seems the best. But the back to back placing of two songs in the second half in a gap of three minutes spoil the show in the later half. Similar is the case with the song punched after the climax sequences.

The action sequences of the movie has been very well choreographed by Anal Aras, and can be adjudged as the best seen in recent times. With all those positives in the backdrop, ‘Anwar’ could have ended as a notable movie, sometimes the best from the director, if the scripting crew had approached it with lot more sincerity and emotions. As of now, the movie will end up as an average flick, considering its four crore budget. A definite prescription, but only for die hard Amal Neerad and Prithviraj fans!