Anamika Movie Review: Few Thrills Here

Bollywood's drought at the box office continues with Ananth Mahadevan's Anamika The Untold Story failing to create any kind of flutter. The movie, which is based on Daphne Du Murier's Rebecca, is touted to be a suspense thriller, but has neither of the two elements in sufficient degrees to qualify as one. Even though the first half of the movie works very well, the second half fails to take off. The most commendable thing about the movie are its locations (Rajasthan mostly) which have been shot very well by Pushan Kriplani and its music scored by Anu Malik. But they fail to make up for the loopholes in the story and screenplay. The problem is that there is nothing original or unpredictable about the story and the pace is not fast enough to keep the audience rapt.

Anamika is the story of one Vikram Aditya Sisodia (Dino Morea), a rich businessman, who wishes to convert his place into a resort. He comes to Mumbai and meets Jia (Minissha Lamba), who plays his escort during his trip. The inevitable happens and the two fall in love and get married. Jia is aware of the fact that Vikram has been married before and that first wife died under mysterious circumstances. She goes with him to his palace in Gajner and finds that though Anamika is dead, her presence seems to fill the palace. She meets Malini (Koena Mitra), who is Vikram's childhood friend and also the governess at the palace. She tells Jia all about Anamika. Jia, already feeling Anamika's presence in the palace, is greatly influenced by the myth surrounding the dead woman. Everyone in the palace talks about Anamika and her beauty and make Jia feel that she can never live up to her. An insecure Jia, tries to emulate the dead Anamika, but that creates problems for her marriage. Meanwhile, Vikram's brother in law, (Gulshan Grover), who is a cop, accuses Vikram of being responsible for Anamika's death. The mystery surrounding Anamika;s death gets murkier with suspicion falling on Vikram. It finally starts unraveling before Jia and soon the truth about Anamika death is out in the open.

With its source being so well known, the director finds it very difficult to maintain the suspense in the movie till the flag end, hence losing out on the element of surprise. Also, the film's screenplay is not taunt enough for a thriller. Even in the acting department, the film fails to shine. The male protagonist, Dino, despite a fairly decent performance in Bhram, hardly impresses in this movie. Minissha, on the other hand, turns in a very good performance as Jia, living out her life under the shadow of her husband's first wife. Koena Mitra too turns in a fairly decent performance for whatever little time she is there in the film. Veteran Gulshan Grover's presence adds life to the film.

The film's music by Anu Mallik works well. It is very pleasant with at least two outstanding melodies, one of which is Shagufta Dil. The locations in Rajasthan have been captured well by the cinematographer. However, nothing about the film rises above the average. Anamika turns out to be a passable film, which will not even create a flutter at the box office.