Two time national award winner Jayaraj is a director who visibly surprises with his differing attempts. But of recently his films often fall off from perfection, least expected from someone who very well know the grammar and glitter of film making. Anandhabhairavi too is one such film which could have been better.
The film tells the story of a Kathakali artiste Vasudeva Panikkar, who specializes in doing female roles. Being a widower and the father of a six year old son, he effectively lives up as the mother and father of his child. On the course of events, his son Appu, who is exceptionally talented in music, is discovered to be a wonder kid who can point out mistakes in the Krithis sung even by the veterans. From there onwards stars the child's journey to fame and fortune with the able support from media.
Appu who goes to perform his prodigious talents in concerts is projected to international circuit but the fate plays fowl again as he is diagnosed as having a terminal illness. From there everything is predictable fare, with occasional brilliance from Jayaraj. The film tries to match Sankarabharanam, the 80's hit at some point, but fails to recreate the magic and mood of the original. The writer duo Mahesh and Sajeev' has matured from shortcomings of their earlier films, but this definitely cannot be the best of these budding scriptors who will definitely find better openings in near future. The film has a bunch of good classical rendering by Arjun, which makes the lovers of classical music enjoy the flick.
The first hour of the film is at least tolerable, as the rest is very predictable drama. Portions of the film gives you an impression that this is a realistic, hard hitting film, but there are times when you feel that the film suddenly tries to become loud and over sentimental.
The major highlight of the film is the performance of Saikumar as the Kathakali artiste, which proves once again that he is the finest actor around. He emotes with flourish, but with much restrainment and no surprise he won the award for the second best actor in the state for the performance.
Master Devdas as Appu attracts us more with his smile and looks than with his performance. Atlas Ramachandran makes a mechanical performance as the manager of Appu. On the whole, the film is an average fare.
