Movies based either on novels or on real life incidents don't need to succeed every time. I am telling this just to warn the directors and the scriptwriters. The same thing applies to scriptwriter-cum-director Anant Mahadevan's latest flick 'Anamika: The Untold Story'. The movie is based on Daphne Du Maurier's novel Rebeca. The director stated only a few days back during the launch of its music that the movie is a suspense thriller. However, I may inform you that Anant's suspense is unveiled immediately after the intermission and the audience doesn't wait for next 30 minutes to watch THE END sign. I found the theater almost empty and those who sat through the end were the people like me ( critics). The movie's star cast comprises Dino Morea , Minissha Lamba, Koena Mitra, Aarti Chhabria, Achint Kaur, Gulshan Grover, Prithvi Zutshi and Vishwajeet Pradhan.
The movie revolves around Vikram Aditya Sisodia (Dino Morea), a rich businessman . He goes to Mumbai and meets Jia Rao (Minissha Lamba) while trying to make a proposal for converting his palace into a resort. He gets attracted to Jia and marries her but before the marriage he reveals the truth about his earlier marriage and informs Jia that his first wife had died under unfortunate circumstances. Jia reaches the Lake Palace of Gajner. She is surprised to see the huge palace and also the photographs of Vikram's beautiful and socialite wife though dead .
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At the palace Malini (Koena Mitra) who is Vikram's childhood friend and also the governess of Gajner, helps Vikram to convert the palace into a resort. Malini talks to Jia and tells her about the beauty of Vikram's late wife named Anamika . Jia finds too many places in the palace that have the imprints of Alphabet A . Jia starts sensing Anamika's spirit and she gets so impressed by Anamika that she tries to transform herself into Anamika though Vikram does not like this. One day the brother-in-law of Vikram (Gulshan Grover) who is also a state cop, accuses Vikram of having a hand in killing Anamika. Then appears the boyfriend of Anamika and also comes out from the sand the dead body of Anamika!
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As a scriptwriter Anant Mahadevan has given his best but as a director he fails to execute the story. With a tag of suspense thriller attached to it , Anant becomes helpless and has to maintain the suspense till the last. Anant needs some lessons from the Ramsay family before directing a suspense thriller next time. Performance-wise Dino has improved himself very much. Dino proves himself the perfect choice for these types of movies. Among the females, Minissha Lamba and Koena Mitra have also lent their best. Aarti Chhabaria plays Vikram's first wife named Anamika who dies mysteriously. Aarti's performance is okay, too.
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Anu Mallik's music is pleasant. Aadesh Srivastav's background scores need applause. Pushan Kripalani's cinematography is all right. The stunning locales of Rajasthan and the production design by Gayatri Marwah are commendable. This will not be out of place to mention that Anamika's producer has indeed shown courage by releasing his movie in the midst of big budget movie like 'Tashan'.
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This is another matter that 'Tashan' hasn't fared too well. Another noteworthy thing is that Anant had to wait for the completion of this movie as he got busy with his 'Victoria number 203' and 'Agar' in the meantime. Besides, the director failed to get dates from Imraan Hashmi and therefore signed on Dino Morea, instead. Not only that, the shooting began before giving the movie a title ' Anamika'. And, later, Anant was asked to change this title too as it belonged to another producer. So, Anant gave it a tag -'Anamika : The Untold Story' .
On the whole, 'Anamika' is 20-20 game, as in the first half the movie is found excellent but in the second -half, it is pathetic. Without a big star cast, and during the cricket season, 'Anamika' looks like a sinking boat.
