Anandatandavam

Starring: Tamanna, Rishabh, Rukmini and others           

Director: Gandhi Krishna

Music: GV Prakash Kumar

Release date: 10 April, 2009

The film has been titled as ‘Anandatandavam’ but it is not a light hearted romantic entertainer but takes a serious look at various aspects of life from the point of view of a father and his teenage son. 

Story:

The film is about two innocent teenagers. Madhumita (Tamanna) is the daughter of the chief engineer at a big power plant project. Raghu (Rishabh) is the son of a middle class employee at the project. Raghu comes home after completing his education. He slowly falls in love with Madhu. The parents of Madhu find Raghu the right choice for their daughter and plan to make him as their son-in-law.

They invite Raghu and his widowed father for dinner one day and also literally force Raghu to get engaged to Madhu. They even arrange for a good job to Raghu in a big company.  Just when the wedding is just a few days away, a rich NRI comes to the place and likes Madhu. The parents of Madhu now ditch Raghu and marry off their daughter to the NRI. They tell Raghu that they have dropped the alliance as his father is having an illicit relationship with the maid servant.

A devastated Raghu tries to commit suicide by jumping into a waterfall. He is rescued by his father and after his recovery is sent off to the US for higher education.

Raghu’s father tells him to earn a lot of money and come up in life.

In the US Raghu meets Rukmini and slowly comes close to her. Raghu also meets Madhu in the US and they meet at regular intervals. Just when Raghu is about to get engaged to her, Madhu comes to Raghu and asks him to take her back into his life. She tells Raghu that her husband is a sadist and a womanizer and so she wants to leave him.

What will Raghu do now? Will he ditch Rukmini and reunite with his ex lover? This is the suspense element that unfolds on the screen.  

Performance:

Tamanna has done a good job. She is very convincing in her role of an innocent and confused teenager. Newcomer Rishabh fits the bill as a confused teenager who is caught between his lover and his loving father. Rukmini is okay and she also performs a classical dance number. The rest of the star cast does a reasonably good job.

Music by GV Prakash Kumar is adequate. The photography is also good. However it is the slow pace of narration that is a big minus for the film.

The film has a good message but lacks enough commercial elements like action scenes, comedy. The films drags and drags and the blame goes to a large extent to the editor followd by the director. The appeal of the film is limited to a very small section of the audience.