Anjali CBI Movie Review:It Is A Ridiculous ‘Thriller’

Anjali  CBI(Telugu)

Starring Nayanthara,Anurag Kashyap, Atharva Murali, Raashi Khanna

Directed  by  R Ajay Gnanamuthu

Rating: **(2 stars)

Slickness can often be a sickness. In this case  a cat-and-mouse chase between a serial-killer and  a CBI agent tries to  cover itself  in  slickness. But ends up looking as  underdressed as a stripper  at a condolence meet.

Pompous in its puffed-up self-congratulatory tone  and  its  attempts at looking sounding and appearing trendy,  Anjali CBI, the dubbed telugu version  of  the Tamil Imaikkaa Nodigal tries to be  a slick thriller  fused  in a failed romance. The  fusion causes a profusion  of confusion.Whenever we settle into the  purported  suspense  we  are  pulled  into a parallel  world  of  romance featuring the  protagonist’s brother Arjun(Athaarva)  and Krithika(Raashi Khanna).

While the serial killer goes on  a ridiculous rampage,  Arjun  sings and dances  and promotes a brand  of cellphone.

But nothing in this  misfired  sleek  peek  into  a killer’s  mind is as infuriating as  the  lead performances.Nayanthara  who is  to Tamil cinema what  Deepika  Padukone  is to Bollywood, looks disdainful and  bored …or was she incredulous  about the outrageous plot and  unable  to  hide  her  disbelief? Throughout the lengthy furiously-paced  but  ultimately  uninvolving  film, she wears  the same  expression. The  kind that a woman wears when she isn’t sure if she has worn the right dress to a party.

As  for  Anurag Kashyap,who on earth told him he  could act? Like many filmmakers branching out into unknown areas, Kashyap is cocky but  clueless. he  peps  up his pervert’s part wth a ceaseless know-it-all smirk. This psychopath  enjoys killing people and  torturing people far more than we  enjoy him  at his pursuit.

 The  trouble with this aspirational thriller is that it tries too hard to be gripping.  Tragically it treads on slippery ground  and  stumbles  all through. We  are supposed to be impressed with its techno-savvy  treatment   of  the  killer’s instincts. But the  loopholes in the plot act as  sleepingdogs in the narrative.By the time   the scriptwriter wades to  the  finale the  wheels-within-wheels in the plot would have you choking.

Or are they just joking?  To  honestly take  this  film’s  ludicrously  loppy  thriller aspirations seriously,  would be  a crime  far graver than any committed in this  film. 

One  of  the  killer’s victims is stuffed  into  a car’s dickey.I felt exactly  the same watching  the  film.