`Anjaan` review: fails to impress

`Anjaan` is like a battle between Suriya, the star, and Suriya, the actor. Interestingly the film features him in a double role - one is a star and the other is an actor. But the director has focused on the star only.Suriya, who didn`t mind playing a buck-toothed, dark, ugly hunchback Chinna in `Perazhagan` or a con man in `Pithamagan` or the grim police officer in `Kaaka Kaaka`, didn`t hesitate to experiment, but the film`s plot backfired.

The Suriya we saw in those films may not have been a star then (or maybe he was), but audiences loved him as much as they like him today. `Anjaan` comes after Suriya`s recent blockbuster `Singam 2`, and the makers assumed that his success streak would help `Anjaan` in wooing the audience. To cash in on Surya`s success, N. Lingusamy rustled up a gangster revenge drama, inspired by several desi gangster films, but lost the plot. Shot in Mumbai with a host of Bollywood actors, who are excruciatingly awful in their roles, it also has a romantic track. Samantha romances Suriya, dances with him in a bikini and the crowd goes berserk. There are punchy dialogues, which are repeated in every fight scene. There`s comedy too, but it hardly evokes laughter. Look at the irony of Tamil cinema - movies made here can`t have many dialogues in Hindi because audiences won`t understand. But the filmmakers worked with Bollywood actors in the film because the scrip demanded so, but they were not allowed to dub in their own voices, as they can`t speak Tamil. So when these actors appear on the screen, you get the feeling that you`re watching a Hindi film dubbed in Tamil. This is precisely why Manoj Bajpayee, one of the finest actors in Indian cinema, always looks like a clown in Tamil films. Vidyut Jamwal, who was last seen in Tamil film `Thuppakki` as a cold-blooded terrorist, had impressed because his dialogues were in Hindi with a voiceover in Tamil. It worked when audiences watched the film. He was accepted and appreciated. It was not the same with `Anjaan`. Suriya gives an earnest performance in `Anjaan`, and there`s absolutely no doubt about it. But he`s let down by a weak script, terrible performances by the rest of the cast and lengthy narrative. He should stop do films that do justice to his potential, rather associating with films like `Anjaan`. It is high time Lingusamy, who is reluctant to change, accepts the fact that age-old formula doesn`t work anymore.