There are several movies that can leave you with a lump in your throat or haunt you for days. Others will make you feel empty, filling the mind with the urge to forget it. ‘Aanandhapuram Diaries,’ written and directed by Jaya Jose Raj, falls into a different category altogether as it compels viewers to search for its actual plot. Right from the beginning, the film betrays itself through intermittent voice overs by Meena, who also plays the lead character indicating that it lacks focus on its plot. A blend of songs, bad parenting and shallow college romance gives birth to a badly written screenplay which fails to match up with onscreen execution.
Meena is Nandhini, a dropout law student who suffered from cancer but later returns to her alma mater after some time off. In college she faces various problems but gets along well with Adithyan (Roshan Abdul Rahoof) and guest lecturer Paul Sundara Raj (Srikanth). Adithyan contests against Hari (Abhishek Udayakumar) in college election which results into enmity between them. Malini (Sanjana Sajan), who is Adithyan’s cousin has crush on him but he discourages her love towards him telling that they should be good friends only because he loves someone else already. Meanwhile, Lawyer Eshwar’s family does not know about their son’s drug addiction problem.
Once Malini dies under mysterious circumstances and everyone suspects Adithyan’s involvement in her death; henceforth “Aanandhapuram Diaries” has scattered its plot all over erratically without giving any clear idea about what actually happens next! Characterisation given for Meena had potential but nothing much was done with it during making of this movie except perhaps trying hard enough emotional aspect of protagonist’s life which made no sense at all then followed through another string so-called message attempt instead. The story was weakly put together and brought out worst performances from actors; only Jaffer Idukki who appeared as college canteen worker Usman along with Ramya Suresh (Malini’s mother) managed to do justice to their roles.
Meena tried her best to work around the character but the script did not give her much scope for performance. The film progressed aimlessly and Tamil actor Srikanth was a superfluous addition in an already directionless movie. Drama during the grave parts of this film had no meaning at all hence making it silly and absurd towards ending which should have given some teachings instead! In conclusion, “Aanandhapuram Diaries” is an example of how ingredients can be misused in cinema!!
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