ANBIRKINIYAL (2021)

Critic - No. 205

Director: Gokul

Produced by: A&P Groups

Casts: Arun Pandian, Keerthi Pandian, Praveen Raja

Language: Tamil

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Music: Javed Riaz

SYNOPSIS: 

An ordinary suburban girl suddenly disappears, leaving her loved ones in a desperate search as she must face the ultimate battle - the one for her life.

 

REVIEW:

Based on a National Award winning Malayalam thriller, Helen (2019), director Gokul has made an earnest adaptation that works as an emotional drama as well as an effective thriller. With the real-life father-daughter (Arun and Keerthi) playing the lead, Gokul has kept the film neck to neck with the original source. The film revolves around Anbu, a 25-year-old young woman who is preparing to move to Canada in search of a nursing job while working at a fast-food outlet in a mall as well. She shares a great bond with a widowed father who is a little sad as well knowing that her daughter is going to work abroad. The night after her father discovers that she is in love with Charles, Anbu goes missing.

When the film kicks off, the initial hour made me feel that the director is spending too much time with conversational scenes with the lead characters but after you are introduced to the inciting incident, the whole character-building pays off excellently. It is nice to Arun Pandian on screen after so many years and he does a great job especially in the scene where he expresses regret and guilt for being egoistic with his daughter. Praveen as Charles gives a seasoned performance as well. Keerthi, the main pillar of the film has given a terrific show in the film especially during the struggles in the freezer box. Her act was so convincing and contributed to the edgy mood of the film effectively.  The make-up and score played a big part as well to elevate our senses and keep us on the edge. I really liked Javed Riaz songs and the important placements they had in the narration to further kick up the emotional notes.

On the downside, the film’s pace at the second half felt quite slow for me. Even though the scenes with Keerthi in the freezer box are intense, the parallel investigation scenes do take some time to spice up. I just felt that there could have been stronger moments between Charles and Anbu’s father which might have made the conclusion more satisfying. The track on the vengeful inspector making the investigation difficult looks quite flat. And of course, convenient writing is thrown in scenes such as Charles bumping into Anbirkiniyal’s co-workers when he is out looking for them and a car crashing into his bike in front of the building where she works.

As we encounter these kinds of scenes, we are subconsciously prepped for a predictable, filmy ending. However, these aspects don’t really affect the engagement level we have with this survival drama that rides high with emotions.

VERDICT:

Anbirkiniyal is an engaging survival drama that is backed up with powerful performances and solid emotional arcs.

 

CELLULOID METER- 3.25/5: