Anjali

Anjali (1990) : Brief Review -

An underrated gem by Mani Ratnam. If you have heart and emotions in it, i dare you watch Anjali without dropping tears. First, i am very glad that this gem of a film came in my watchlist by chance. Second, i feel pity for those movie buffs who have rated this film less than other Mani Ratnam classics. And especially those duffers who compare it with Hollywood Classic 'To Kill A Mockingbird' just because one or two neighborhood sequence are similar. What about the rest of story? Did those dumb-heads really watch both the film or just making statements without any knowledge? Anjali is mainly about the mentally disabled child and the emotional trauma around her. Did 'To Kill a Mockingbird' had anything like that? Or did 'Anjali' have any court hearing scenes? Then who are those low IQ people who even thought of comparing these two films? Just shoot them dead man. Anyways, i would like to recommend this film to every movie buff whoever loves cinema and understand the social sense of it. In simple words, films like this are important to society and our lives which is not in the case of most of those crime classics of Mani Ratnam. So, if you are among those audience who cares about content more than big stars and heroic images then Anjali is a Must See for you. Anjali is a heartbreaking film with extremely emotional climax. Making a film with child artists is difficult but look at the way they have performed. That little girl in the last 5 minutes has done an unbelievable job, i was shocked to see such a great act by her at this age. Even Revathi, Raghuvaran and other child actors have done wonderful job. I would like to thank Mani Ratnam sir from the bottom of my heart for making this heart melting Cult Film which i will remember for long time. In short, an underrated gem that deserves more praise than other star oriented classics.

RATING - 8.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

There are 2 major aspects of this movie which makes it very interesting - 1. ManiRatnam's unique and brilliant style of movie-making, 2. Children.

The movie actually reminds me of the novel 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'. And the director has done a great job indianising the novel and making a commercial movie out of it.The characters of Jem, Scout and Boo Radley from the novel have been very well depicted in the movie.

The brother-sister relationship (played by Tarun and Shruthi), different kinds of people in the colony, the scarily unseen neighbor(played by Prabhu) who is spied by the kids, how the society discriminates certain people (a mentally retarded sister in this case), how the 2 children take the brunt of their neighborhood kids ridicule and then learn to handle it - have all been very well depicted.

Though the screenplay is not perfect and definitely not as good as ManiRatnam's other movies, we still find it interesting and unforgettable. All the characters have been very well played (Credit goes to the director for getting it out of the kids). And not to forget the great music and great cinematography.

Overall its a 'must watch' movie.

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.

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.

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.