Ananthan Kaadu review: Arya's revenge thriller drowns in its own sub-plots

Ananthan Kaadu movie review: Director Jiyen Krishnakumar's Ananthan Kaadu, starring Arya, Murali Gopy, Indrans and Vijayaraghavan, is a story about how the system neverlets you win. The film has an interesting backdrop, but fails to achieve a cohesive story.

In Short

• Ananthan Kaadu revisits Sri Lankan civil war's dark past with graphic violence
• Vetri escapes to Kerala after losing family, joins mercenary group with political ties
• Film starts strong but becomes formulaic revenge thriller with multiple sub-plots

Ananthan Kaadu takes us back to the Sri Lankan civil war, when several crores of people were beaten, killed and raped. The initial stretches, featuring rebel group leader Vetri (Arya) and his gang being ambushed by the Sri Lankan Army, show officers behaving like sexual predators and killing machines. Right when you gear up for a film on one of the darkest chapters in Sri Lankan history, it turns into a formulaic revenge thriller.

In 1989, during the Sri Lankan war, Vetri (Arya) loses his family and escapes to Kerala seeking a life where his identity is hidden. Krishnan Kutty (Indrans) and his team take him in. The group, which works as mercenaries for Kerala Chief Minister KK Menon (Vijayaraghavan), also run a music troupe as a cover.

Krishnan Kutty and gang are tasked with one final assignment for the Chief Minister. Though they hesitate at first, they try to complete it with Vetri's help – and chaos ensues.

On paper, Ananthan Kaadu sets up a revenge story layered with local politics and the unresolved scars of the Sri Lankan war. Director Jiyen Krishnakumar's film reaches for betrayal, power politics, oppression and war all at once. It opens in Goa at a wedding, where a police officer's hand is severed, before travelling back to Sri Lanka. Until the film returns to India, it holds your attention – but once it settles into political-game territory, familiarity creeps in, and the screenplay leans more on the brotherhood between Krishnan Kutty's gang than on the power politics it set up.

It is violent and often voyeuristic – especially during the torture and ambush scenes – but has the emotions to carry the story forward.

When there’s a hired gang to kill and execute as per a Chief Minister's orders, you know you can expect revenge and backstabbing as part of the screenplay. The film just had to pull in a few surprises and present it in a way that ties all these genres together. This is where Ananthan Kaadu suffers the most. The problem is excess. There are already three sub-plots in play; the film adds more – a love angle, a prostitute's tragic backstory – instead of tightening what it has.

There's even a random song, with actors Bharath and Regena Cassandra dancing as actors-within-the-film. You ask why? Murali Gopy, who wrote the script, might say he needed more depth. The result: Ananthan Kaadu travelled too deep that it became too difficult to crawl out of its own story.

Arya excels in his emotional and action scenes as the rebel leader. Murali Gopy, Indrans, Vijayaraghavan, Sunil and Dev Mohan play their parts to perfection. But the story is too convoluted to come together as a cohesive drama.

The depiction of violence is a major point of contention – the brutal killings and sexual abuse get too graphic, straining for a reaction rather than earning one. Composer Ajaneesh Loknath's score is too loud for its own good.

Ananthan Kaadu could have been a good revenge political drama had it chewed just enough for its own survival.

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