Like many Hindi films, Anbirkiniyal has no qualms about spending time building a foundation, where conflict over survival only comes when the duration hits 50 minutes (out of a total of 122 minutes). Previously, the audience was introduced to Anbirkiniyal aka Anbu (Keerthi Pandian), a girl whom everyone likes thanks to the kindness and sweet smile she always gives. Apart from working part time in fast food restaurants for a long time, Anbu is struggling to achieve his goal of working in Canada as a nurse. Best Movie Site
The reason is to help the family economy, including the debt of his father, Sivam (Arun Pandian). Their relationship dominated the first hour, full of warm and intriguing interactions, which was brought to life by the strong chemistry of the two main characters. Naturally, considering that in the real world, they were real father and son. In fact, Arun and his eldest daughter, Kavitha, also acted as producers.
On the other hand, Anbu hid his relationship with Charles (Praveen Raja) from his father, because his lover was Christian. Until the relationship was revealed after an unpleasant incident one night, which also caused conflict between Anbu and Charles and Sivam. Before the conflict was over, unexpected things happened. Due to the negligence of several employees, Anbu was confined in the cold room where he worked, at night after the restaurant closed.
Did the length of time spent building the background have a positive impact? In fact it is. Apart from helping to get to know the characters so that it makes sympathy easier, the question arises, “What if an argument becomes the last memory of your beloved person?” Perhaps a similar question filled Sivam’s head, which made his struggle to find his daughter even more emotional.
But not all of the duration is used effectively. More portions are given to the anti-smoking campaign under the guise of family drama, rather than exploring other aspects, such as the love affair between the Anbu and Charles, which ends up as trinkets without any meaningful impact. Even removing him would not affect anything, given the bad impression that was left when Sivam first met Charles, did not come from these differences.
The main course, which shows the Anbu’s efforts at survival, is well presented. As the temperature continued to drop, we saw the Anbu’s various ways, from wrapping the body in cloth, plastic, and duct tape, to building “emergency igloos” with cardboard and food storage boxes. Not all goes well, with some giving him new hardships (and injuries). Movie Review
In essence, there are many variants of events, so that tension is maintained even though it is only one room in the background. Even after spending the first half of the film as a likeable girl, Keerthi was able to live the Anbu’s sufferings, without having to weaken her figure. He was cornered, injured, dying, repeatedly falling, but reluctant to give up to the last drop of blood.
The problem is, the decision to continue to shift focus from indoors and outdoors disrupts the flow of the story, even though Gokul’s directing is actually quite effective in terms of building intensity. On the sidelines of the Anbu’s struggle, we also saw that the search that was carried out by Sivam and Charles encountered many obstacles, especially from the irresponsible police. It is true, criticism about how negligence by the authorities has the potential to kill human lives adds to the relevance of storytelling. But if after the film the audience is more reminded of the rottenness of the police (which takes up more time) than the survival, it means Anbirkiniyal is not a good survival film. Top Movie