Anniyan
Anniyan is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language psychological action thriller film directed by Shankar and produced by V. Ravichandran. The film stars Vikram as a meek law-abiding lawyer who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and develops two other identities: a playboy fashion model, and a murderous vigilante seeking to eradicate corruption in India. The cast also includes Sadha, Prakash Raj, Vivek, Nedumudi Venu, and Nassar.
Shankar conceived the film in mid-2003 during the post-production period of his previous film Boys. He based the film on his own life experiences during his formative years when he was disturbed by what he saw around him and his eventual displeasure with the society. Pre-production for Anniyan began in November 2003 and principal photography in March 2004. The making of the film, which included numerous production delays, took 14 months. The film was shot at Hyderabad, Thanjavur, Viluppuram and Chennai. The song sequences were filmed in Mumbai, Malaysia, Amsterdam and Tenkasi. The film was notable for its recreation of the Tyagaraja Aradhana music festival and the extensive use of time slice photography in an action sequence.
Cinematographer V. Manikandan discontinued the project halfway through, until he was replaced with Ravi Varman. The technical departments were headed by V. T. Vijayan, Sabu Cyril, and Peter Hein. The soundtrack was composed by Harris Jayaraj, who was in his first collaboration with the director. The film was touted as the director's magnum opus and was budgeted at 26.3 crore, making it the most expensive Indian film during the time of its release. Notably, it was the first South Indian film to obtain institutional finance, and it had the highest insurance coverage available for films at that time.
Anniyan was released on 17 June 2005 and became a commercial success, and in addition to winning a record breaking eight Filmfare Awards and six State Film Awards, it also won a National Award in the Special Effects category.
Plot
Ramanujam "Ambi" Parthsarthy, a straightforward consumer protection advocate from Thiruvallikeni, Chennai, expects everyone to follow the law and attempts to prosecute those who violate it, but his efforts are unsuccessful due to circumstantial evidence favouring the accused. His efforts to raise civic awareness go unacknowledged due to general lack of seriousness and widespread corruption. Ambi's suppressed anger manifests as an alter ego called Anniyan, a grim reaper-themed vigilante, who seeks out corrupt and indifferent individuals to eliminate them. Anniyan creates a website, where he compiles a list of wrongdoers and kills them, using punishments described in the ancient Hindu scripture Garuda Purana.Ambi secretly loves his neighbor Nandini, an aspiring Carnatic singer, but never expresses his feelings due to fear of rejection. When he gets the courage to propose to her during the annual Tyagaraja Aradhana with the help of his friend SI Chari, she rejects him as she cannot bear his overbearing nature, constant complaining, and nitpicking. Distraught, Ambi attempts suicide, almost drowning himself before having second thoughts. He subsequently develops another personality named Remo, a metrosexual fashion model. Nandini becomes smitten with Remo and falls in love with him, and their marriage is eventually fixed.
While purchasing a plot of land for her dowry, Nandini undervalues the property to evade stamp duty. Ambi, who accompanies her to the government office, refuses to help her. Later, when Nandini and Remo are on a date, Remo transforms into Anniyan and attempts to punish her for corruption. As Anniyan is about to kill her, Nandini calls out for Ambi and Anniyan reverts to Ambi, who collapses and loses consciousness. Nandini takes Ambi to NIMHANS, where he is diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Through recovered-memory therapy, Vijaykumar, the chief psychiatrist, uncovers Ambi's past. When Ambi was ten years old, he witnessed the accidental death of his younger sister Vidya due to civic apathy. The incident left a deep emotional scar, which was the reason for his lofty ideals. Vijaykumar realises that although Anniyan and Remo know about Ambi, albeit as a separate person, Ambi is oblivious to their existence within him. Vijaykumar declares that Remo will cease to exist if Nandini reciprocates Ambi's feelings, but Anniyan will cease to exist only when society reforms. Nandini accepts Ambi's love and Remo disappears.
Meanwhile, DCP Prabhakar and Chari investigate the murders committed by Anniyan. In disguises, they discover clues left behind by Anniyan, which are the names of the punishments meted out to victims. Prabhakar is personally determined to punish Anniyan as one of Anniyan's victims, Chockalingam, an errant catering contractor with the Indian Railways, was his elder brother. In a dramatic publicity stunt, Anniyan admits to the murders when he appears amidst the public and the press. Anniyan explains the rationale behind the murders and adds that only when every Indian is responsible and sincere can the country prosper on par with developed nations. His methods draw both praise and criticism. Prabhakar tries to catch Anniyan, but he escapes.
Upon investigating the phone records and IP address of Anniyan's internet activity, as well as analysing the security footage of Anniyan's facial appearance, Prabhakar realises that Anniyan is none other than Ambi, and arrests him. The police officers administer a lie detector test and they figure out that Ambi is being honest. Prabhakar, enraged, tells all the officers to leave and Prabhakar brutally tortures Ambi with garuda puranam punishments till he is almost dead. The near-death experience and pain trigger Anniyan's reappearance. Ambi's personality alternates between himself and Anniyan; he brutally subdues Prabhakar as Anniyan while begging for mercy as Ambi. Chari secretly records Prabhakar's torture of Ambi and presents it as evidence of Ambi's mental state during his trial, while Vijaykumar also reveals Ambi's diagnosis. Ambi is acquitted, but is directed to undergo psychotherapy in a mental hospital and will be eligible for release when cured.
When Ambi is released two years later, seemingly cured, his rigid adherence to protocol has diminished and becomes more open and accommodating. He marries Nandini. While travelling on a train during their honeymoon, Ambi notices a man drinking among fellow passengers, who also happened to be the lineworker responsible for Vidya's death when he was caught drinking at work. Moving himself and Nandini away from the man, Ambi secretly throws him off the train to his death but hides the incident from Nandini, revealing that he and Anniyan now maintain a symbiotic relationship.
Cast
Production
Pre-production
During the making of his Hindi film directorial debut Nayak starring Anil Kapoor in early 2001, director S. Shankar had conceived a science fiction film titled Robot. A futuristic techno-thriller set in 22nd century Chennai, the film was to star Kamal Haasan and Preity Zinta. However, after completing a photo-shoot featuring the two, the production was shelved due to various reasons, including Haasan's unavailability of dates and creative differences with the director. Shankar postponed the project indefinitely and made the coming of age film, Boys. When the post-production work of Boys was underway, Shankar was awaiting the return of its composer A. R. Rahman, who was then outside India, to complete the background score. In the meantime, Shankar had an idea for a storyline and called Vikram, who expressed enthusiasm for the subject.Development
Following the release of Boys in August 2003, Shankar began work on his next directorial venture, entitled Anniyan. It was initially thought to be Shankar's pet project Robot revived with a new title, but this was later proven not to be correct. Shankar said the film was his "dream project" and disclosed that it would be a racy, fantasy-thriller. When questioned on how the idea behind the film had come to him, the director revealed, "The seeds of all my movies were sown when I was young, long before I started making movies. So many things disturbed me, and these stayed with me. Those were the seeds. I make films based on them."With the highest production value among Tamil films of its time, the film was touted to be the director's magnum opus and was labelled "the most eagerly awaited film of the year" by the media. The film deals with a person having dissociative identity disorder, commonly known as "multiple personality disorder" or "split personality syndrome". It was compared to Chandramukhi, released two months before, as it also focused on a character with the same syndrome.
Casting
To portray the lead character, Shankar needed a performer who could play an action hero. He chose Vikram as he felt that the actor, in addition to being a performer, had the image of an action hero. While his casting was made public in a November 2003 news report announcing the project's inception, the director revealed that Vikram was added to the cast in mid-2003 and refuted theories that the actor's casting was to capitalise on his new-found popularity following his success at the National Film Awards, where he won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film Pithamagan. Stating that Vikram was selected for the lead role months before the theatrical release of Pithamagan, Shankar added, "I don't look at actors that way." He further remarked that Vikram was the "life and soul" of Anniyan.The heroine role of a "devoted Iyengar Brahmin girl" was originally offered to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who was too busy to accommodate production dates. After months of waiting for her call sheet, Shankar eventually offered the role to Sadha. Expressing hope that it would be "an important movie" in her career, Sadha accepted the offer, working on the film for 120 days, adding, "I have a major role to play in Anniyan. There are few heavy portions involving me in the movie that I have given my best." She considered being a part of a Shankar film, especially during the early stages of her career, as a "god's gift" and a "once-in-a-lifetime experience". However, when offered similar roles following the film's success, she refused to be typecast and stated, "I am now looking for roles where my creative potential is tapped. I don't want to be part of such cinema where all one has to do is dance around trees."
Vivek, Prakash Raj, Nedumudi Venu and Nassar appear in supporting roles. Mohan Vaidhya, a carnatic vocalist and occasional actor, plays a minuscule role as Sadha's father Krishna. Malavika Avinash was approached to play Vikram's mother; she rejected the offer, stating, "I am too young to do a screen mom and too old to be a heroine!" Cochin Haneefa, Charle, Kalabhavan Mani, Shanmugarajan and Saurabh Shukla make cameo appearances as delinquent citizens. Haneefa played an indifferent car owner who refuses to help an accident victim as he does not want his "brand new car" to be soiled with blood. Following Haneefa's death in February 2010, Vikram recalled the actor's appearance in the film and said, "Though he'd come only in a few scenes no one could miss him. For roles that have some ambiguity about whether it's a good guy or a bad guy, he is one of the best choices. Until the end, one cannot really guess if he'll end up being good or bad." Comedian and character artiste Charle played an unnamed wastrel and alcoholic who extorts money from his ageing parents for his expenses and is considered by Anniyan to be a liability to society. Charle was instructed by Shankar, "People should see only the character. Only later should they realise that it was Charle."
The role of the younger Ambi was played by child actor Hari Prashanth alias Viraj. When he came to the recording studio to voice his lines, he was accompanied by his father S. N. Surendar, a singer and dubbing artiste. Shankar recognised Surendar and asked him to lend his voice for Nedumudi Venu, as the latter was a Malayali. In the 2004 comedy film Aethirree, which featured Sadha in the female lead, Kanika played the second lead role of a "naughty" Brahmin girl. Shankar, apparently impressed with Kanika's performance in the film, asked her to attend a voice test. When the film-makers preferred Kanika's accent and modulation among the thirty females whose voices were tested, she was selected to dub for Sadha's Brahmin role.