Film: Amar Akbar Anthony
Direction: Nadirshah
Cast: Prithviraj, Indrajith, Jayasurya and Namitha Pramod
Very much like love, the concept of a good film also differs from person to person. For some, the emotional side may look appealing. For those who hate the stiffness of emotional extravaganza, the comic takeaways may offer a soothing effect. When Nadirshah, an acclaimed mimicry artiste, comes with a big screen experiment, the genre is predictable. Amar Akbar Anthony is a film which is inclined to comedy. The star cast led by Prithviraj, Indrajith and Jayasurya is quite interesting and strong enough to woo the audience to theatres.
Amar (Prithviraj), Akbar (Jayasurya) and Anthony (Indrajith) are friends who lead a flamboyant life in Kochi. Their dream is to go to Pattaya in Thailand. They painstakingly save money from their salary to enjoy the life to the fullest. But the adversities they are faced with upset their applecart. Amar’s mother (KPAC Lalitha) is a marriage broker and she is forced to accommodate Srinda Ashab and her daughter (Baby Meenakshy) in her house following a failed marriage which took place under her aegis. Jenny (Namitha Pramod) is a dancer in the neighbourhood and also the sweetheart of Amar and Anthony (wait, there is twist). When Srinda’s daughter goes missing, Amar Akbar Anthony takes a serious turn with an unexpected twist. In the first half, the film offers plenty of good humour sequences. Prithviraj, Jayasurya and Indrajith have done a commendable job to establish those hilarious moments successfully.
The script by debutant duo Bipin George-Vishnu Unnikrishnan is intriguing enough. The song Premamennaal... penned by Nadirshah and sung by Nadirshah, Prithviraj, Indrajith, Jayasurya and Kalabhavan Shajon is another highlight of the first half.
During the second half, Amar Akbar Anthony derails from the comedy track and narrates the hot topic of child sex abuse. But the tempo is lost for want of a well-carved script to essay the theme in a strong manner.
By the end, with an unwanted exaggeration of action sequences (boosted by an untimely social consciousness) the entire plot plunges us into boredom.
The lead actors have done a good job. Namitha Pramod, the female lead, is portrayed as a trophy without any meaningful job, which is very unfortunate. The performance of Baby Meenakshy is noteworthy. The song Yenno Njaanende sung by Baby Sreya is another silver lining in the film.
Characters of KPAC Lalitha and Srinda Ashab are also strong enough to make a mark. Cinematographer Sujit Vaassudev has captured some unseen images of Kochi. The movie forgets to tie some loose ends, especially in the latter half. The character of Kalabhavan Shajon (Jadayu Sabu) is ubiquitous till the end of first half. But when things take an emotional turn, the makers seem to have forgotten him.
As a maiden attempt, Nadirshah surely deserves a round of applause. Even though the efforts to give a strong social message in the end become ‘half baked’, it is a watchable flick for its comic sequences (especially in the first half) and decent performances.