Anniyan

Anniyan is a Kollywood psychological thriller directed by S. Shankar. Dubbed into Hindi, Telugu, French, it was a huge blockbuster playing for approximately 240 days in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and 150 days in Kerala. The film was produced by Venu Ravichandran and distributed in India by Oscar Films. It was released in France by Columbia TriStar Pictures.

The movie stars the actors Vikram, Prakash Raj, Sada, and Vivek. The score and soundtrack, composed by Harris Jayaraj, was released on April 27 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 Rs. 263,800,000.

Plot

Anniyan is the story of Ramanujam "Ambi" Iyengar (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, corruption and incompetence in the police force and elsewhere had resulted in the death of his sister. 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 investigatio. 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.

Reception

The film released with 110 prints in Andhra Pradesh and in 35 cinema halls across Kerala.This movie was also dubbed in French and it was released all over France which almost collected 60 million within first three weeks

The film was simultaneously released in Tamil and Telugu (as Aparachitidu).It was later dubbed into Hindi as Aparachit - The Stranger which was making Rs. 2,00,00,000.

It did a business of Rs.15 crores in Kerala and in Andhra Pradesh it did a business of 22 crores The film collected a distributors' share of nearly Rs.15 crores from the state. The film almost collected 65 crores in Total run at India

Soundtrack

Tamil (Lyrics: Vairamuthu, N. Muthukumar & Kabilan)	Telugu (Lyrics: Chandrabose & Bhuvanachandra)	Hindi (Lyrics: Mehboob)
Kumari (Shankar Mahadevan & Harini)	Kumari (Shankar Mahadevan & Harini)	Kumari (Unnikrishnan & Harini)
Kadhal Yanai (Nakul, Newlyn & G. V. Prakash)	Love Elephantla (Nakul, G. V. Prakash & Tippu)	Remo (Nakul & G.V Prakash)
Kannum Kannum Nokia (Leslie Lewis, Andrea & Vasundhara Das)	Naaku Neeku Nokia (Kunal Ganjawala & Vasundhara Das)	Gora Gora (Leslie Lewis & Vasundhara Das)
Iyengaaru Veetu (Hariharan & Harini)	Iyengaari Inti (K. J. Yesudas & Harini)	Iyengar Gharki (Hariharan & Harini)
Andang Kaka (Kay Kay, Jassie Gift, Shreya Goshal, Saindhavi)	Konda Kari (Jassie Gift, Kay Kay, Sujatha Mohan)	Chori Hai (Kay Kay, Shreya Goshal)
Stranger in Black (Sunitha Sarathy & Chennai Gokule)	Stranger in Black (Sunitha Sarathy & Chennai Gokule)	Stranger in Black (Sunitha Sarathy & Chennai Gokule)

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

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, Chandramukhi (One Award) and Ghajini (Three Awards).

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

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.

This movie also has an influence of Saw.

Anniyan is not the first work in Tamil to deal with Multiple Personality Disorder. Other stories that have MPD in their plot include: