Saturday, September 13, 2014

Movie Review - Anukshanam (Telugu) - Thriller sans thrills!

Anukshanam was in the news much before its release, not just for the reason it’s another RGV film; but for the innovative pattern of distribution it ventured into. With that, the premise and plot elements were also revealed to an extent. So, the audience expects an intense thriller before walking into the cinema. This concept may sound new on the landscape of Telugu cinema, but has been handled differently and perfectly in other languages, especially the crime thrillers of Malayalam. Then parallels would be rife and how RGV managed to create discretion by holding the bits and pieces of thrills so tautly will make it a cut above the rest.


The movie opens with a psycho killer taking his first victim. Then it runs on the track of a killing spree where the number becomes insurmountable to send enough shivers down the spines of the residents of the city. Gautham (Vishnu) is the special officer in-charge who is on his toes to nab the criminal. Revathi, an NRI who did an extensive research on serial killers comes to his rescue by helping him understand the modus operandi of such people. Together, they try to get close to the killer.

Anukshanam is a rare breed of cinema, where the audience’s preconceived notions get quashed one after the other. Some for good and some go beyond control. The killer’s character is revealed in the first scene, so it’s not another ‘Who done it?’ genre. The killer gets his prey so effortlessly without any resistance, so it’s not a police story where the cops overpower with their heroics. There is zilch of engrossing investigation or ‘connect the dots’ spinoff or finding any traces of vital clues all through the film. A major chunk of the film is dedicated to understanding the background of the softcore individual who turned into a killer, rather than piling more layers of intrigue. Don’t know whether the intention is to send the killer to a rehabilitation centre rather than to a place of confinement.

The characters behave quite differently than required. A journalist always goes with an overblown presentation of cops as spectators and mere caricatures. Revathi’s character brings her personal story to the fore, which is unwarranted. A senior cop gets the information on phone after a gruesome act, and pops up with some flash-in-the-pan moments during press meets. And the behavior of the Home Minister falls on the extremes with his callous nature in this age of media activism. The purpose of Brahmandam’s character still remains a boggling question!

RGV sparkles at places with his technique. There are no unconventional camera angles and the mood and ambience were set up meticulously for the flow of events to seep in. However, the repetitive use of similar sounds for every genre makes it quite jarring. In a typical RGV style, the performances by the central characters are well conceived. Surya as the killer spearheads the film with finesse.

The movie borrows some traces from the films of Davind Fincher and the pre-climax showdown is reminiscent of Se7en. The film’s short runtime and adequate pace may turn into its favour. However, Anukshanam neither stands tall for its substance nor for the sparkling implementation of the written material by the director to create an earth-shattering product. 

My Rating: Expecation - 6/10; Reality - 3/10


This review was originally written for Metro India newspaper.

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