Film Review:

Banner: Marikkar Films
Cast: Mammootty, Lakshmi Rai, Gopika, Ragasiya, Harishree Ashokan, Suraj Venjaaramoodu,
Kunjan, Manianpillai Raju, Siddhique, Mohan Jose, Anil Murali, Urmila Unni, Shivani
Direction: Anwar Rasheed
Production: Marikkar
Music: Rahul Raj

The only world of caution for those who are planning to watch ‘Annan Thampi' is that this is not a production for the purist, pointed reviews ,or logic viewing. It is more a racy formulaic stuff, laugh-out-loud funny at times that is just meant for entertaining you for two hours. The results are a lot of smiles and snickers, and these larger moments come just enough to make this a movie that is much more consistent in tone than many of other recent endeavors.

Creating comical plots around a handicap appears to be the latest mantra in our films. 'Annan Thampi', too is yet another formula friendly adoption of such a story of twins, born within a difference of 90 seconds, who are at loggerheads with each other since childhood. The problem with them is that one is dumb and the other is verbose. To avoid more casualties due to sibling rivalry, one is sent to Pollachi with his uncle and other stays back with his parents. Appu the eldest of the twins is a vitriolic troublemaker, and erstwhile associate and present enemy of Dharmarajan (Rajan P Dev), who's niece Thenmozhi (Laxmi Rai) is madly after Appu.

On the other hand, a dumb Achu is the softer one who is unlucky enough to take the brunt of others in his shoulders. He and his wife Lekshmy is assisting his father Ravunni (Janardanan )in recreating the Puranas for their ballet troupe and is even ready to portray the roles of puranic characters in folklore, along with fellow artists played by Suraj, Salim Kumar and Harishree Ashokan.

Even after years, the brothers continue their fight when ever they see face to face. But soon major misunderstanding created by enemies pop up and the brothers starts calling for each others blood. And as usual, just before the finale, they understand the real reasons behind their enmity, which makes them, reconcile and fight as one against the baddies.

'Annan Thampi', even though on a ''done to death plot frame'' primarily works for two big reasons -- the ingenuity of the production crew led by Anwar Rasheed and scenarist Benny P Nayarambalam and the acting talents of the artists in crucial characters and naturally, its lead star Mammootty ,with his cleverly done dumb act. Anwar Rasheed cleverly brings out every possible joke that can be told featuring twins and they rarely need to resort to too much crass envelope pushing in order to achieve humor. He even makes Mammootty mimic himself in one of the scenes which drives the audience positively wonder about his understated comic timing. Retaining his idiosyncratic detours, this is a slick package concocted to showcase his star qualities, – for a Mammootty fan anyway.

The comic situations of the movie rise above the mere case of mistaken identities. Amidst the visual gags and crazy situations, the fun quota is consistently maintained even in circumstances that are not really humorous. This is thanks in large part to the versatility of Suraj Venjaramoodu and Salimkumar, two actors who have shown the ability to do outrageous comedy and drama equally well. Among the lady leads, Gopika as usual performs well in a tailor made role while Lakshmi Rai is around with the right dosage of glamour quotient.

The biggest letdown of the movie, of course is the climax fight, its build up and the associated graphic works which looks more animated and inconsistent. The entire fight choreography of the movie is sparse and ineffective. Fortunately, director operates in his usual style -- pleasantly funny, but not especially inventive, keeps it from getting out of hand, allowing the movie to stay reasonably consistent with its interestingly done tail piece. Lokanathan behind camera and Don Max in editing supports evenly for making a technically well done movie. Rahul Raj's songs that are choreographed brilliantly suit the mood of the movie but leave little to sing along. Alex Paul also has done commendable job in rerecording.

'Anann Thampi' is strictly for those who don’t look for too much logic in the film, but wanting to sit back and enjoy consistent laughs. The comedy here is in the funny bone of the beholder, as every stratum of so called high end jokes and low end crass are here, and many viewers are probably just as likely to find it unfunny as funny, so this is reservedly recommended. And in comparison to other comedies out there, that's better than most.