Anjali

Many reviewers have said it's 'To kill a mocking bird'. I feel its story also has lots of E.T in it.

The way the alien is found disgusting, then adorable and then the E.T finds home. So if 'To kill a mocking bird is also included, I'll give only one star. It was entertaining and can be seen as a derivative adaptation and not a copy of the two films, there it scores a 8.

The music is the highlight of the movie, so are the children. Just love all the songs in the movie, has got a lot of nostalgic value.

Raguvaran and Revathy gave a very well nuanced performance as the mom and dad of Anjali, and Shamili as Anjali was outstanding, should congratulate Manirathnam for extracting good performances out of the artists.

It seems odd and serves as a good case study when seeing how kids spent their days in the 90s. The story slowly picks up one event after another with frequent songs and terrific dance choreography. The house setup seems odd, with lack of background materials but it works for the mood of the film.

The film making and acting by kids look genuine and flawless. The screenplay takes off in the second half, with people maintaining distance from the estranged kid and conciling with her. Revathi is brilliant and forms the crux of the story. The emotional longing for acceptance is the driving point of this beautiful kids film.

This is an unashamedly populist film. As a result, it's got the occasional cringe-worthy cheesy sequence (and I'm thinking the Science Fiction / Star Wars pastiche here), and it doesn't really grapple with the reality of bringing up a disabled kid.

However, it has some excellent and very funny scenes, and it does deal brilliantly with social attitudes to disability. It features the full masala quotient, with fights, singing, dancing, bad jokes and pyaar-ishq-mohabbat. It also made me cry like a baby.

In conclusion, an utterly excellent film, although not without flaws (as Mani Ratnam himself admits), which features stunning and thoroughly convincing performances. Should be seen by everybody.

This film totally deserves a full page in film making dictionary. Epic work by mani sir & all actors. We shouldn't mention shamili{Anjali}, tarun{brother}, sruti{sister} and all children as child actors & artists because they are supremely talented as if they worked in industry from ages. A MUST WATCH MASTERPIECE OF INDIAN CINEMA from SOUTH. In every category this film teaches a lesson. cinematography,editing,lighting,story,direction,screenplay etc.,.....EVERY ASPECT is a lesson for film making aspirants.

MUSIC ! no need of any explanation. just one name ILAIYARAAJA . This film is his 500th film.

From this movie it is proved that Mani Ratnam has a knack of different topics of human relations.Anjali is basically a movie about how a mentally retarded kid finds herself suddenly between a family and whole lot of friends in a group of apartments.The family members,played by raghuvaran and revathy(one of my favorite actress) as mother and father of the child "anjali" suited their roles perfectly well.I still wonder how mani sir made the two year old girl shamelee to act so well as a mentally retarded kid.The siblings of anjali,played by tarun and shruthi,adds to the brilliance of mani sir.I loved this movie personally,as it made me upset for the whole day after watching it!!The songs,once more were brilliantly pictured,my personal favorite is the song shot on "anjali" which showed mani ratnam's greatness.I would definitely recommend this movie to you.You will love this.