On a skeleton level, the new Nayanthara movie Annapoorani’s script feels like a non-boring template story about a girl pursuing her dreams against all odds. But when it comes to fleshing out that idea into a proper script, director Nilesh Krishnaa struggles to create genuinely exciting drama that will make us root for the leading lady. With a typical first half followed by an over-ambitious and unexciting finale, Annapoorani just doesn’t have anything to be memorable once the end credits roll.
As you can guess, the film is about Annapoorani, a Brahmin girl who was born with enhanced taste buds. She aspired to be a chef from her young days, and when she told her family about this wish, they, especially her father, objected to this dream as it would require her to touch and taste non-veg food. How Annapoorani decides to follow her dream against the wishes of her family and what obstacles she had to face in her journey to become a reputed chef is what we see in the movie Annapoorani.
SPOILER ALERT! The conflict point in the movie is actually pretty interesting in terms of the drama quotient it has. The edge Annapoorani has over others is her enhanced taste buds, and Nilesh decides to take that away from her at the mid-point. But the issue is that the film can’t really create genuinely interesting moments even after creating this dramatic hurdle. The college chapter of the film feels like a tasteless documentation that has a series of predictable motivational moments. When the second half happens, the film shifts to a five-star hotel restaurant, and every beat of the rivalry between Annapoorani and senior chef Ashwin feels way too simple and silly. Towards the end of the film, the woman empowerment preach is very much on your face and somewhat felt like a burden that every Nayanthara movie should carry since she is the undeclared ambassador of self-empowered women.
As the titular character Annapoorani, Nayanthara has done a fairly decent job, and more than her acting chops, somewhere I felt the movie was more interested in using the image she created about herself to cover up the craft flaws. Sathyaraj plays a senior chef in the movie who is like a role model to Annapoorani, and again, the role doesn’t offer any challenge to the actor. Karthik Kumar as Chef, Ashwin is a character that had a little bit of depth. But the lines and monotonous presentation of that character just make him a silly villain. Jai plays the hero in this movie, and it is the heroine-equivalent role of a typical hero-oriented film in Tamil, as the only purpose of Farhan is to motivate Poorani. Achyuth Kumar, KS Ravi Kumar, etc., are the other names in the cast.
Nilesh Krishnaa, who has also written the film, takes the movie through a very guessable trajectory for a larger part of the movie. Even the over-ambitious Masterchef-like final act feels predictable and generic. But there was this bizarre scene in the end, which made me facepalm and chuckle. SPOILERS AHEAD! In the final round, when a Brahmin Annapoorani was asked to make Biriyani, she decided to wear a hijab and do a namaz, before cooking Biriyani. And things became funny when afterward she said, “Biriyani has no religion; it is an emotion.” I was like, then what the hell was that show you staged just before cooking? Sathyan Sooriyan’s frames mostly have that warmer tone. The music isn’t that great, and the background score is too loud (not literally).
Annapoorani is not a boring creation; it’s just too unimaginative as a film. Once the character is established in the first fifteen minutes of this movie, anyone can imagine a possible story of such an individua. And Nilesh Krishnaa has written a movie that will make the audience happy if there is any predict and win contest there along with the movie. Annapoorani is just noble intentions backed by uncreative scripting and storytelling.
Annapoorani is just noble intentions backed by uncreative scripting and storytelling.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
