A remake of superhit Kannada movie titled Aa Karaala Ratri, Anaganaga O Athidhi is directed by Dayal Padmanabhan, who also directed the original. The movie also won the Karnataka State Film Award for the First Best Film in 2018. The remake version features Payal Rajput and Chaitanya Krishna in lead roles and is supported by Veena Sunder and Ananda Chakrapani. The music and background score of this movie is composed by Arrol Corelli while the cinematography is handled by Rakesh B. Bankrolled by Raja Ramamurthy and Chidambaram Natesan for Trend Loud banner, let us see if Dayal was able to recreate the magic he did to the original.
Based on a true story
Mallika (Payal Rajput) and her family live in a remote village area going through a financial crisis. Srinivas (Chaitanya Krishna) is a nomad who has earned enough to spend for the rest of his life and enjoys travelling. One day he visits Mallika’s home and convinces her parents to stay with them for a day. In the meantime, he gets to know about their financial crisis and gives them the emotional support of how one could earn by working hard like him. However, eventually the greed and desire overshadows them leading to a tragic ending that will leave everyone dumbstruck.
The cast played their roles efficiently
Most of the movie revolves around Mallika’s family and Srinivas. Payal Rajput as Mallika stole the show again with her act that has a resemblance to what she did in RX100. She nailed it with her stellar performance and did exactly what was asked for. Chaitanya Krishna pulled off a surprise act in a role that you sympathize with and is the pick of the lot. Ananda Chakrapani was pitch perfect in the father role who is addicted to alcohol and Veena Sunder was apt in the mother character.
The technical standards are high for this low budget flick
Though this is a remake, Dayal Padmanabhan was successful in getting the nativity right as it does not seem like a movie borrowed from another language. Kaasi Nadimpally’s dialogues are thought-provoking and reverberate the essence of the movie. Shot in a remote village as the story demanded, Rakesh took it to his advantage and came up with some astounding visuals. The music and background score by Arrol Corelli lifts the bar. Editing is crisp and the movie is limited to 90 minutes as there are no unwanted scenes and stays true to the plot.
WATCH OR NOT
Anaganaga O Athidhi is a tragic tale of a family from a remote village that will leave you flabbergasted. The performances are neat and the story telling is linear with no confusions. You may watch it if you are a fan of this genre.
Director: Dayal Padmanabhan
Writer: Kaasi Nadimpally
Cast: Payal Rajput, Chaitanya Krishna, Veena Sunder, Ananda Chakrapani
Music & BGM: Arrol Corelli
Cinematography: Rakesh B
Language: Telugu
Streaming on: AHA
