Anbarivu Movie Review
Debutant Aswin Raam’s Anbarivu features Hip Hop Adhi in the dual roles. The film is produced by Sathya Jyothi Films and has premiered on Disney Plus Hotstar. The film has Kashmira Pardeshi and Shivani Rajashekar in the lead roles.
The story revolves around twin brothers Anbu and Arivu (both played by Hip Hop Adhi). A family feud separates their parents (Sai Kumar and Asha Sharath) as the latter listens to her father’s (Napoleon) instructions and alienates herself from her spouse. Sai Kumar elopes to a foreign country along with Anbu as a baby. Years later, situations urge both the twins to bounce upon each other as Anbu wants to reconcile and reunite his family. But then, it’s not that easy the main spoilsport Pasupathy (Vidharth), the main root cause for all troubles is still a miscreant disguised as an innocent man.
To start off with, director Aswin Raam has done a neat job by handling so many actors in his first movie itself. Most of the actors are seen as substantial characters. To be precise, it’s exhilarating to see the veteran actor Napoleon in a prominent character and groovy performance after a long time. The actors like Sai Kumar, Asha Sharath, and Vidharth have essayed prominent characters with excellent performances. But in contrast, we get to see that the lead characters of Anbu and Arivu, both played by Hip Hop Adhi don’t have these prominences. Although, both the characters are youthful, it does demand for some sort of maturity, but we don’t find it in him. When it comes to the female lead characters played by Kashmira and Shivani, they are so feeble. We keep waiting that the Eelam Tamil girl (Shivani) will have some scope to perform and so is Kashmira, but both of them are merely seen as the set property in the movie. Vidharth needs special mention for playing an antagonist character with confidence. He has delivered a neat performance. The visuals are groovy, and both the portions of rural and foreign backdrops have been very well shot. The songs by Hip Hop Adhi could have been better, but his background score is commendable.
Getting on with the negatives, the screenplay lacks engagement factors now and then. Of course, there are engrossing moments, but in contrast, there are dull moments placed alternatively. If Aswin Raam had worked yet more on the screenplay, the film would have been yet more engaging. Yes, the story itself is predictable, and the director and writing team would have gone through a lot of challenges in creating an engrossing screenplay. But still, this version looks a little vague, but not extremely boring.
As on whole, Anbarivu has a story that isn’t something. Naturally, you can’t expect an out-of-the-box concept in a family entertainer, but if the writing was made crisp, and entertaining by involving some good romantic episodes, fun elements, etc, it would have been an entertaining movie. For now, it’s just a time pass movie that you can watch if you don’t have any films on the watchlist.
Verdict: Could have been yet more engaging.
Rating: 2.5/5
