Battle of the movies - Annaathe Vs Jailer

 

I watched Jailer yesterday and strangely my mind went back to Annaathe and I found that there are not too many dissimilarities in the two. For starters both are helmed by super star fan boys and who brought their adulation to the silver screen with varying levels of success. Secondly both movies can be clearly separated into two halves and both halves were significantly different. There are also few others I picked up so listing below my score card for the same.

 

1.      Title

Both movies revolve around their titles and Annaathe was easier to understand, a local big man is called such and it is prevalent throughout the movie. In Jailer it comes to the fore only in a small and actually weak flash back.

Annaathe – 1 Jailer – 0

 

2.     Family relationship bond

Both movies were built on a family connect. Despite the cringe daughter age sister and the melodrama, the brother sister bonding was the high light of the first half. Strangely in the plan to show the super star as family man, the father son bond the premise of the second half is not shown and left to the imagination of the audience.

Annaathe – 1 Jailer – 0

 

3.     Comedy

Thalaivar is good with comedy. The oft repeated snake comedy scenes notwithstanding, he has done some good comedy roles. In Jailer with Yogi Babu and his deadpan comedy the theatre was rolling in laughter, and then in Nelson style some sly wisecracks that made you cringe a little because this movie is certified UA and there are so many kids. Annaathe however is cringe all the way, Soori is simply not funny and seemed to have drained the comedy effect from the superstar, though I did enjoy the police station fight sequence.

Annaathe – 0 Jailer – 1

 

4.     Fight scenes

Annaathe had some good fight sequences in the superstar mode, like the above mentioned police station scene or the temple festival sequence which is the trigger for the next big thing in the movie. Jailer misses out on it, maybe the superstar was not upto it or maybe Nelson wanted to be different, but the Dinosaur sequence had so much promise but we had to create all of it in our minds.

Annaathe – 1 Jailer – 0

 

5.     Music

Superstar movies have the super star entry song and that would be the hook, Annaathe had it and it is more of a nostalgia and emotional connect to SPB than the song for it to linger with us, but Jailer dispenses with it completely, maybe a tribute to the great man SPB again. But it leaves a hole in the entire experience. Kaaavala simply does not cut it and it is essentially an Instagram short. But the genuinely comic sequence of Superstar dancing was epic. Kudos to the superstar and Nelson for making it happen. Watch it, no spoiler. The music of both movies are nt memorable and so this is a tie, though Annaathe should score a point for the entry song, I will be stingy.

Annaathe – 0 Jailer – 0

 

6.     Cast

Superstar movies boast an ensemble casting. Both movies have more than required and while it was women power in Annaathe that dominated, in Jailer the women are left to wiping the blood of their faces with paper napkins and little else. Even Neelambari is defanged in this movie and is a real pity. But the guest performers in in Jailer left me wanting, such an ensemble cast and wasted potential. That epic cigar scene despite that large warning left me salivating at an epic collaboration but it was not to be. In the end it was all superstar. Still this is a tie because of the attempts in both movies.

Annaathe -1  Jailer - 1

 

7.     The Villain

The GOAT in this category for me would be Anthony, Mark Anthony, who made Manickam become Manick Baasha simply because nobody can do it better without looking like a caricature. Annaathe had horrible caricatures and the villains did not resonate with the movie at all and they kept coming. Varman was epic and blood curdling for the menace and the expressions, the begging scene was classy. In this category Jailer knocked Annaathe simply out of the park.

Annaathe – 0 Jailer – 1

 

8.     Second half

I both the movies the second half descends to a personal fight which goes around the country for no apparent reason. In both the movies the reason for the second half is so flimsy that you find the directors creating impossible situations to fill the time. This is completely excusable in superstar movie till it becomes too much. In this aspect Siva floundered badly with copy paste montages of his earlier movies hastily assembled as the second part, however Nelson had to find the roundabout route to add some meat with the item song and some cringe homophobic scenes. Jailer sneaks ahead marginally in the second half because Nelson is still in control.

Annaathe – 0 Jailer – 1

 

9.     Feel good factor

Every fan goes for a Superstar movie for that feel good factor, the triumph of good over evil, the saviour of the masses, fighting for the oppressed etc. A superstar movie is a time when the fan suspends time and logic for some moments of fun, euphoria and happiness knowing that there is someone who will save the people for that moment of time. Both movies lacked the feel good factor, because in the second half the excessive violence and blood shed sucked the goodness from the movies. Jailer actually starts and ends with death. In the feel good race Jailer sneaks ahead because the most memorable moments came when Tiger spoke to Vimal.

Annaathe – 0 Jailer – 1

 

 

 

10.   Sum it up

Both movies made by fanboys succeeded in showing the superstar as a superstar but fail in showing the world the trained actor Shivaji Rao Gaikwaad is beneath the superstar veneer. Nelson showed a tiny speck in the eyes sequence and it shows how much we missed in our adulation of the superstar.

Having seen both movies and looking back at both, will I watch either again? Sadly No. Both did not draw me. However Jailer would be hoot in the short form on Siripoli or Aaditya channel. So again Jailer sneaks ahead.

Annaathe – 0 Jailer – 1

 

When I started out writing this piece I had no idea what the score would be but as it stands

Annaathe – 4 Jailer – 6

So there is a clear winner in this analysis, but is it a better movie? I would leave it to the viewers to see and let me know.