Anbirkiniyaal - An engaging tale of survival

It's quite tricky to remake another language movie in Tamil especially due to the challenges involved in nailing the nativity.  However, director Gokul has almost pulled off a successful remake of the sleeper hit Malayalam survival thriller 'Helen' as 'Anbirkiniyaal'.

'Anbirkiniyaal' is about a twenty-five year old nurse who is looking to go to Canada to solve financial problems faced by her widowed dad  Sivan (Arun Pandian)    her entire world revolved around her father and to make ends meet she even takes up another job as a burger joint salesgirl.  On a fateful day, Anbu and her father have a nasty argument after he gets to know about her love affair.  Things turn far worse when she gets trapped inside a freezer room and the rest of the screenplay is about whether Anbirkiniyaal survives or not and whether the father and daughter would get a chance to see each other again.

The affable character of the girl next door 'Anbirkinyaal' suits Keerthi Pandian perfectly and she has grabbed the opportunity with both hands to deliver a memorable performance.  Her playful interactions with her real-life father are natural and so are her scenes with her lover played by   Praveen Raja.  Keerthi's acting really picks up steam after she gets trapped inside the freezer room and she has very convincingly conveyed not only the pain she faces but also her grit and determination to survive.  Playing dad to his daughter onscreen is a cakewalk for Arun Pandian and his best scenes are when he suffers humiliation at the police station and retaliates.   Praveen Raja who plays the love interest of Keerthi has done a very decent job.  Notable performances are from the actors who have played the heroine's friend, the sex-starved fast-food manager, the heartless sub-inspector and the constable who tries to help the suffering father.

What works best in 'Anbirkiniyaal' is the entire second half which alternates between the freezer room where Keerthy uses every ounce of strength to survive and the father and lover searching for her without a clue.  The techniques that the girl uses to stay alive are pretty convincing and her interactions with the rat are touching.  The cameo by Gokul in a crucial scene is sure to get the claps in theaters.  The other whistle-worthy scene is when the freezing 'Anbirkiniyaal' stands up to try and break the giant fans.

On the downside, the character establishments that take up a good chunk of the first half is stagey mainly due to the director relying on expositions.  Instead, a little more screentime could have been given for the Anbu and Charles love story so that the conflict with her father could have been much stronger.   The circumstances under which Keerthy is locked in are very artificial right up to the moment when the manager turns the keys.  Being a Gokul film more humour could have been infused.  Playing a song in the background to punctuate the heroine's struggle is a technique that is simply too outdated in a modern film.

Javed Riaz's background score, the cinematography by Mahesh Muthusamy.and editing by Pradeep E Raghav are on par.  Arun Pandian has produced the film under his banner AP Films and kudos to him for choosing an offbeat one to remake.  Director Gokul one should say has remained faithful to the original in most parts and has executed the survival portions of the screenplay well.  

Verdict : Go for this survival drama that is not only engaging but also is refreshing