Script & direction: Sachi
Cast: Prithviraj, Biju Menon, Priyal Gor, Kabir Bedi, Sudev Nair,Mia George, Suresh Krishna, Shyamaprasad and Renji Panikker
All love stories are cliched and the task before a filmmaker attempting a love story is daunting. Desire, passion, resistance, hope, longing, despair, euphoria - these transform a love story into a banal exercise. Hence, when Sachy, the writer who has a number of hits to credit, wields mega phone for the first time, he is cautious enough to place a theme. Lakshadweep, the locale, gives a fresh feel to Anarkali with its stunning visual beauty, unusual customs and a life restricted by the ocean. This, along with the perfect casting, makes the film a convincing affair.
It pans into the 15 years of two Naval officers, Shantanu (Prithviraj) and Zachariah (Biju Menon) and Nadira (Priyal Gor). Ubiquitous as it is, the boy meets girl at a party and develops into an affair but short lived by a ‘childish prank’ that spoils the life and career of two officers, thanks to the Nadira’s father, the brutish Rear Admiral Jaffer Imam (Kabir Bedi). Though brief, the love remains like legendary Anarkali and Salim where Anarkali here is Nadira and Salim the calm Shantanu, though years have passed without the lovers meeting each other.
Prithviraj, as the scuba diving lover in two periods, fits in like fish in water while it is Biju Menon who entertains the most with his one liners. Suresh Krishna with local language Jeseri, has done justice to his role as a Lakshadweep native while Renji Panikker as the rustic relative evokes laughter. The lagoons seen both from the sky and beneath the water by Sujith Vassudev’s camera are a treat. The perfectly-shot under water sequences are undoubtedly the best in this part of the cine world.
However, the film does go out of the track with its political correctness in some places as in references about places (Mattancherry, Kannur) or about the women.
Certainly, Anarkkali reminds one the pangs of love for all those who have it in their DNA and entertains by its novelty.