Anandha Thandavam

A realistic movie:

Karthiga Rukmanykanthan

Anandha Thandavam is a rare and daring attempt among the recent monotonous action packed Tamil flicks. Backbone of this movie is the story adopted from Late Sujatha's novel 'Pirivom Santhipom', and to deliver such a masterpiece cinematically requires guts. Sujatha is famous for his Sci-fi or thrillers and with 'Anandha Thandavam' he has proven his mettle with a slow romantic drama.

The narration style is different from that of the book; however the characters and settings have been captured almost to the nearest imagination of Sujatha.

Unlike other movies of the current era, Anandha Thandavam gives importance to characterization and plot without eluding from its original version in the book.

The current trend in Tamil cinema is constraining the preference of the audience to fast moving entertainers thus exploiting their taste buds which is in turn hindering the creators from producing more of such films.

The slow pace of the movie in its first half is inevitable, it has been made deliberately to not to destroy the essence of the book. G. Krishna's debut film 'Chellame' if recalled was a fast paced entertainer however to bring out the story of Anandha Thandavam, the director has no choice but to abide the book.

He has made some efforts to cut-down on some unessential scenes and has altered few scenes and dialogues in compromise for a cinematic experience.

Even though Anandha Thandavam is not a scientific fiction, Sujatha has thrown in technology here and there.

The Hero Raghupathi played by Siddharth is a Mechanical Engineer whose ambition is to do PhD in Nanotechnology. Raghupathi comes back to his village after his studies where he meets Madhumitha played by Tamanna.

Madhumitha is a mischievous, innocent and indecisive girl who is first told by her parents to fall in love with Raghupathi and then forced to marry a U.S. based Businessman Radhakrishnan.

Betrayed by Madhumitha and her family, Raghupathi attempts suicide. After recovering from this traumatic incident, with the advice of his father, Raghupathi leaves for U.S. to do his higher studies where he meets Rathna played by Rukmini. Rathna is a matured and intelligent girl brought up in the U.S. who is also a trained Bharathanatyam dancer.

Fate brings back Madhumitha into Raghupathi's life again. Raghupathi restarts a platonic and dignified relationship with Madhumitha. She also proposes Rathna for Raghupathi but things don't remain the same until they get to know the true facet of Radhakrishnan.

Radhakrishnan played by Rishi has been cheating on Madhumitha. Betrayal and its consequences form the crux of the story. The end of the story is not so easy to predict. Character introductions and foreshadows are thoughtful and are significant to the subsequent scenes.

Anandha Thandavam leaves surplus details as it has been extracted from a novel and that has had an adverse effect on the elaboration of scenes. The climax is very elaborate in the novel where as it has been cut-short in the movie due to time constraints and fear of dragging the movie further. As a result the acting suffers in the climax especially scenes involving Rathna and Madhumitha.

Madhumitha's character is very complex as it goes through a series of transformation however it is the central character that the story revolves around. She remains gullible until she is betrayed and tortured by her husband.

The emotional conflicts and her realization of true love at the end are understandable.

A scene from Anandha Thandavam

In portraying this, the young and gorgeous Tamanna shows high potential however her perplexing expressions in few scenes and the climax could have been ironed out by the Director.

This movie is the maiden project for the hero Siddharth and he has given a reasonable performance but he could have been more enthusiastic and energetic. The female leads are the real show stealers and the second heroine Rukmini lures the hearts of the audience with her neat dance presentation and seems to be a very promising actress.

Experience speaks in Charlie's performance and Kitty who does the role of Siddharth's father. Cinematography is brilliant and the Cameraman has captured some unseen locations like Amba Samuthiram in India and New York in the U.S.

The similarity between the locations is that both are distinctively attractive places in their own ways located in two different parts of the world but the difference is that Amba Samuthiram is dealing with a socially backward society and the other is battling a socially corrupt society.

The selection of beautiful and apt locations gives a very pleasant feel to the eyes and has been very helpful in bringing out the mood of the story.

The first song involving Siddharth and Tamanna had some very innovative ideas and the cinematography and editing were superb. Music score by G. V.Prakash is only memorable in the song 'kanaa kangiren', and the remarkable cinematography and the harmonizing choreography for Rukmini's dance are an additional flavor to this song.

Overall, even though Anandha Thandavam is slightly clich‚d, it is a realistic movie which can be related to our life. It conveys a very strong message and leaves you with teary eyes and heavy heart at the end.