Anniyan

Anniyan
DVD cover for Anniyan
Directed by	S. Shankar
Produced by	Oscar V. Ravichandran
Written by	S. Shankar Sujatha Rangarajan
Starring	Vikram Sadha Vivek Prakash Raj Yana Gupta Nasser Kalabhavan Mani Nedumudi Venu Saurabh Shukla Cochin Haneefa Raju Sundaram Charle
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography	V. Manikandan Ravi Varman
Editing by	V. T. Vijayan
Distributed by	Oscar Films (India) Columbia TriStar (France) Ayngaran (Worldwide)
Release date(s)	June 15, 2005 (2005-06-15)
Running time	181 min
Language	Tamil
Budget	$6 million
Gross revenue	$20 million

Anniyan(2005) (Tamil: அந்நியன் English: Stranger)is a Tamil psychological thriller directed by S. Shankar. Dubbed into Hindi as Aparichit, Telugu as Aparichithudu and French, it was a huge blockbuster film in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The film was produced by Oscar V. Ravichandran and distributed in India by Aascar Films. It was released in France by Columbia TriStar Pictures.

The movie stars the actors Vikram, Prakash Raj, Sadha, and Vivek. The score and soundtrack, composed by Harris Jayaraj, was released on 27 April, 2005. The motion picture took over two years to complete, from 2003 to 2005. The film was the most expensive Tamil feature film made of the year costing nearly $6 million.

Plot

Anniyan is the story of "Rules" Ramanujam Iyengar, known as "Ambi" (Vikram), a lawyer who suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. Ambi is an innocent and honest lawyer. If he comes across anyone not obeying the rules he files cases against them but all his efforts go in vain.

His constant habit to be perfect in rules and honesty leads him to develop a Multiple Personality Disorder in which a new character in him grows as Anniyan, a grim reaper, (Vikram) and starts a website called www.anniyan.com to hear people's complaints. The new character, Anniyan, is a violent man. When he is Ambi and comes across a person who does not obey rules he makes complaints in his website. When he is Anniyan, he goes and kills them by methods used for torturing people in hell. He apparently takes the definition of these methods from the Garuda Puranam.

During the first half, Anniyan kills 3 different people due to their actions:

• A man who did not stop to save a person in critical condition. Anniyan forces a herd of buffaloes to stampede him to death. He calls this murder "Anthakoopam", a Sanskrit word and one of the punishments in the Garuda Puranam.
• A chef who fails to provide decent food for railway passengers. Anniyan tosses him into a pot and fries him to death. This punishment is called "Kumbhipakam". The chef was the brother of DCP Prabhakar (Prakash Raj) and the death caused Prabhakar to rise with anger, promising to kill his brother's murderer when he is found.
• A factory owner who makes faulty motor parts. He sends a group of thugs to kill Ambi, but this triggers Anniyan, who knocks out all the men. Later, Anniyan ties the owner to a tree and dumps leeches onto his body. This punishment is called "Krimiibhojanam"

Meanwhile, DCP Prabhakar and Chari (Vivek), a friend of Ambi, are after this mystery murderer.

Ambi is in love with his neighbour Nandhini (Sadha), a music teacher. After she rejects him, Ambi develops another personality, a ramp walk model named Remo. Nandhini instantly falls for Remo and his tricks.

Later, Nandhini acquires land, but tries to cheat the government out of taxes. Ambi chooses not to help her, but when Nandhini tells Remo, Anniyan takes over and goes after her. Just as Anniyan is about to toss her into a pit of fire, Anniyan reverts back to Ambi. He is admitted to a hospital where he is diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder. It is at this hospital that Ambi reveals a dark secret from his past when he is hypnotized. When he was a young boy, there was a lot of corruption and incompetence in the police force and elsewhere. There was a loose electric wire which fell into a rather deep puddle. Ambi's sister Vidya slipped out of a rick shaw and fell into that puddle with the unattended wire, in which she was electrocuted, and died. After listening to this story, the doctor (Nassar) concludes that the death of Ambi's sister resulted in the development of the psychological disorder. According to the doctor, Remo will cease to exist only if Nandhini accepts Ambi's love. However, Anniyan will cease to exist only when the country is reformed. Nandhini eventually accepts Ambi's love and Remo disappears.

As for Anniyan, the police catches him after an investigation. During an interrogation, DCP Prabhakar engages in a fight with Ambi/Anniyan, who constantly changes personalities between Ambi and Anniyan to the DCP's confusion. The fight is captured on the security camera and is used as evidence for Ambi's sentence. He is sentenced to two years of psychological treatment at which time if he is cured, he will be released. When he is released, he relapses when traveling in a train, after a man refuses to stop drinking in the presence of ladies. Apparently, the man is the same person who indirectly, became a cause for Ambi's sister's death due to his negligence of duty. He kills the man, hiding the crime from Nandhini as the credits start rolling, proving that instead of eradicating Anniyan from his brain, he has been able to successfully blend the personalities of Remo, Ambi, and Anniyan as one.

The film has comedies by Vivek regarding the anagrams of the Sanskrit words that denote the punishments. Even the titles shown in the beginning of the film slide with quicker animation of their anagrams. Another example is, during the intermission of the film, the word "TENSIONRISM" morphs into the word "INTERMISSION", which is its anagram.

This film,can be closely related to Shankar's previous feature, Indian. Both movies have similar names in pronunciation, and both movies involve the main character rooting out the corrupt elements of India, due to corruption causing the death of the main character's close family member. The main character also gains popularity amongst the public, and shows one of his murders on live TV.

Cast & Characters

• Vikram as Ambi, Remo and Anniyan.
• Sadha as Nandhini Raghuram.
• Vivek as Chari.
• Prakash Raj as DCP Prabhakar
• Nasser as Psychiatrist

Box Office

Produced on a budget of $6 million, the most expensive then, the film was a commercial success grossing $20 million at the box office marking a new career peak for Vikram at the age of 39.^[1] It was funded by IDBI to the tune of $2 million and insured for $7 million to mitigate risk of failure. The producer was the sole distributor of the film. He recovered $3 million in advance from exhibitors as Minimum Guarantee before the completion of the project. By cutting off the middlemen thus, the profitability of the project was secured.

The film released with 110 prints in Andhra Pradesh^[2] and in 35 cinema halls across Kerala.^[3] The film was simultaneously released in Tamil and Telugu (as Aparachithudu). It was later dubbed into Hindi as Aparachit - The Stranger which made $500,000.^[4]

The film grossed $600,000 in Kerala, $6 million in Tamil Nadu^[5] and $4 million in Andhra Pradesh.^[6][7]

Vikram was paid a career high salary of $2 million for this project despite his previous failure Arul.

Soundtrack

• Petronas Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was used for screening as background for the song 'Kannum Kannum Nokiya'.
• The song "Kumari" was shot in Tulip gardens in Amsterdam the capital city of Holland by V.Manikandan.
• Yana Gupta, a famous Indian model, makes a cameo appearance in an item song.
• The film has a sequence featuring the Thiruvaiyaar music festival. Well known exponents like Kunnakudi R Vaidhyanathan, Sudha Raghunathan and Unnikrishnan appear in the scene, which is a recreation of the real festival.

Awards

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Anniyan received most (8 out of 15) of the South Indian Filmfare awards for 2006, breaking a new record in the Awards competition, it overshadowed its next counterparts, Ghajini (Three Awards) and one award for Chandramukhi. 2006 Filmfare Awards

• Won - Best Film - Anniyan
• Won - Best Direction - Shankar
• Won - Best Actor - Vikram
• Won - Best Art Direction - Sabu Cyril
• Won - Best Music Director - Harris Jeyaraj
• Won - Best Stunts - Peter Haynes
• Won - Best Lyricist - Vairamuthu
• Won - Best Cinematography - V. Manikandan and Ravi Varman

2006 National Film Award

• Won - Silver Lotus Award for Best Special Effects - Tata Elxsi

Influences

'Main inspiration for the movie was from Sidney Sheldon's famous novel Tell Me Your Dreams'.

Influences from S. Shankar's other popular films like Gentleman and Kadhalan have been noted. The use of the time-slice method in the film, as with The Matrix films and earlier used by Shankar in his film Nayak shot by cinematographer V.Manikandan proved popular with the audience. Imported fighters as well as martial artists from all over the state were used in the multi-opponent fight scene. The Special Effects were provided by Big Freeze, a department based in London. Art Direction for the film was provided by Sabu Cyril. The movie Se7en is also said to be an influence as it too deals with a serial killer who punishes those who sin.

This movie also has an influence of Messiah - The Harrowing.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Official website
• Anniyan at the Internet Movie Database
• Anniyan and Marmadesam