Anand

2004…Telugu Cinema was drenched in violence, Rayalaseema, fights, or needless dance sequences with absolutely minimal role to the heroine except for a few dance sequences (Dance literally means western dance and classical dance has almost become extinct in Telugu movies!). The role of heroine was to have no brains, look glamorous, and disappear in thin air with respect to characterization.

Then this movie called Anand arrived( Manchi Coffee Lanti Cinema-tagline!) directed by Mr. Sekhar Kammula. An Engineering graduate who studied MFA in USA has turned Telugu Cinema literally upside down in that year! Sekhar rose to prominence by Anand and people have started re-thinking about the brilliance of simple life and little happiness which were lost in the course of money earning and building lavish houses on the account of IT industry boom! Bapu was one director who showed that happiness comes from simple living and doing the sweet little things which go amiss in the midst of busy schedule and I can definitely say Sekhar has brought back that wonderful era of simple movies with strong characters and extraordinary story telling technique!

There are many reasons for Telugu people admiring the movie "Anand" by Shekhar Kammula. Let it be the freshness of it, or a thought-provoking points it emphasized on, or Rupa's character, or the music……..but I felt it was really a welcome change for Telugu Cinema after the gross commercial movies comprising of loads of budget and show lot of carnage, but no sensible content at all.

Apart from all the aspects of this movie, I loved the character of Rupa played brilliantly by Kamalinee Mukherjee. Despite losing her parents at such an early age, without standing back because of it, she tries her best to live independently and never compromises with her identity. Not that she doesn't respect traditions and she is a rebel, but she cannot stand if anyone claims her independence. She even comes up to an extent of breaking her marriage with her fiancé Rahul who along with his mother tries to change her in every aspect they could ever think of. They suppress her regarding dressing, job or regional bias, traditions, her way of living and finally when she was asked for wearing the wedding saree which was given by them, she shows courage and tells her would-be mother-in-law that she wants to wear her mother's saree as she feels that if she does so, her mother is along with her. But when they want to change even her life which she lived in the house she lived as a child, she breaks up her marriage for saving her own neck from those people. Though she initially feels that what she did was wrong and feels regretted, but later she develops such an inner strength which makes any girl who watch her proud. I personally feel that a girl should be like Rupa, who should not sacrifice herself for anyone, rather it might be the guy who she is going to be married, or her parents who gave birth to her. She should not sacrifice most importantly because she is a girl, and inferior to a guy.

It is at this moment, Anand (Raja-who was identified as an actor with "Good guy" image after acting in this film!), an NRI guy who happens to attend this wedding, admires Rupa's strength and wants to know more about her personality. And the rest of the movie is all about how Anand gets interested about Rupa and after some petty arguments, how both of them get together.

The way in which Rupa deals with the tough situations in her life right from losing parents at an early age and trying to be as self-dependent as possible is really admirable. Sekhar Kammula etched her character in such a beautiful way that I am sure everyone of us must have interacted with a girl like Rupa at some point of life or other. In short, I personally feel there is a Rupa in every girl at heart because independence is a girl's primary entity.

An important aspect in the storyline of this movie is that Rupa's parents die in a car accident made by Anand's father who gets drunk then. This makes Anand feel more guilty and tries to help Rupa by staying near her house as much as possible. At one situation after Rupa's parents' death anniversary, Anand asks her whether she ever held grudge against the person who did that accident. Rupa (who is in the vow of silence at that time) asks for a paper and pen and writes she always felt responsible for their deaths but nobody else. And the way she says fate decides it all in a beautiful gesture is one of the best scenes I watched in any of the recent movies!

This movie also throws light on some timid men who are unable to take strong decisions in life through the character Rahul. He is torn between the love for his mother and at the same time wants to gain Rupa by marrying her in some way or other. He takes side of his mother when the time of defending Rupa arrives and feels sad about it later. The confused nature of some modern men who are caught in between tradition and modern values was shown perfectly by Shekhar in this movie!

The movie is filled with freshness in every frame, including the songs and background score given by K.M.Radhakrishnan. This movie can be termed as a modern classic in Telugu cinema, because whenever I see it, I never get bored with it!!

Anand is one of those low-budget but well taken movies. It's a "cup of coffee" entertainment, with no violence, blood or "jump out of your seat" excitement which most telugu films have. However, it does have some massala of it's own. Roopa is a headstrong and down-to-earth young woman who is not afraid to confront any sort of situation, even her offensive mother-in-law's distaste for her. She even backs out of the wedding because her fiancé doesn't stand up for her. However, her air of confidence and independence is enough to make Anand, a rich young gentleman living in the city, aspire to be her new husband. His father accidentally kills her parents in a car crash anyways, so why not pay her back? But Roopa is not the kind who will fall for charming smiles and polite behavior, she puts him through a bunch of situations, continuing to be rude and a pain. It's not until he stands up for her and saves her life that she understands she loves him too. But complications ensue

Having watched "Happy Days" & "Godavari" I was very keen to watch Shekhar Kammula's first outing "Anand". Indeed he shows a lot of promise stamping "a director to watch out for".

Technically the product is quite superior and no ways to that. The writing, screenplay, background score, music and lyrics are top-notch. The fluidity that is maintained from one frame to another deserves a special mention.

Keeping in mind the new generation of audience, loads of crumbs are thrown in which I am sure they will instantly connect and relish. "Anand" has immense fresh appeal.

Kamalinee Mukherjee gets a platform of her lifetime. The director effectively manages to capture variety of emotions that you can't help but simply fall in love with the girl-next-door.

Raja (as Anand) was slightly below par. I was anticipating Siddharth kind of performance and was slightly disappointed there.

Anuj Gurwara (as Rahul) was good.

Satya Krishnan (as Anita) deserves a special mention. Her character was etched quite well and it was nicely complimented by her performance.

The second half could have been trimmed but not a worrying factor. Or maybe because I watched the "Directors Cut" I perceived it longer than usual.

Definitely recommended.

PS: I particularly liked incorporating the scene from Rajesh Khanna's "Anand" as Mr. Kammula's ode to the original classic.

Aa feel good movie of sekhar kammula garu And #Roopa and #Anand characters are owned by was usuall life cute love story for ever even so years far and iam 2022 rating for this movie. What aaa story I have ever seen and Raja garu kamalinee Mukherjee garu what an acting sir iam lucky to see this movie and I love this movie when I was see this movie I want to work the sekhar kammula garu even my last death this movie as come in 2022 it will be hug hit for ever love story thank you for this love Story sir thank you sir and what was iam saying anandh character was changes my life like her to be in great attitude character.

I can watch this movie everyday for 365 days straight.....this is the only movie I watch when iam depressed... No matter how my mood is..this movie always give a fresh feeling.. This was the only movie( literally the only one) which I watch again and again I usually don't like to watch a movie twice but I can see this film everyday If anyone asks me a movie suggestion, this movie will be the first movie in the list... And guess the second one.. yes you are right it is godavari.

Shekar kammula Always show a responsible women in his movies the way he potray women is just love be it Sita from godavari or bhanumathi from fida he never fails to show a responsible woman.