Anantham

Rating: 3.25/5

Streaming on: Zee5 Premium

Cast: Prakash Raj, Sampath Raj, John Vijay, Varghese Mathew, Arjunan Nandakumar, Aravinth Sundar, Amrutha Srinivasan, Anjali Rao, Anbu Thasan, Samyuktha Shan, Ananya Ramaprasad, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Vinodhini Vaidyanathan, Vivek Prasanna, Ananth Nag, Indraja, and Namita Krishnamurthy in the lead roles along with supporting actors in various roles.

Directed by: V Priya

Story:

Anantham is a story of a house being itself the story’s core. Over decades, many tenants stay in Anantham. Anantham attempts to give rise to their stories along with the main story being between Ananth (Sampath Raj), son of Venkatesan (Prakash Raj).

Performances: Prakash Raj is graceful as ever in the role of Venkatesan. Sampath Raj is quite promising as Ananth. Amrutha Srinivasan gives a standout performance as Seetha, her character is most lovable and memorable, and she does full justice to her part. Mirna Menon shines as Parvathy. All other actors have done a good job in their respective roles.

Analysis: 

Anantham includes eight episodes with each episode addressing a different topic such as love, betrayal, hope, acceptance, child abuse, and punishment for the crime. Though it is a compilation of several stories also has a connection with the major characters throughout.

Director V Priya handled very sensitive topics in a very effective way. As said above the narration has so many aspects of life. The issues which should be talked about, are conveyed powerfully. Mostly the characters were flawed and without the debate over good and bad, the narration focused on how people mend their paths as life moves forward. 

For example, in the episode "Parvathy" a child abuse episode shows the inefficiency of the family members to look out for their kids, not realizing how harmful circumstances are kids going through, which is displayed in a significant way. Not only do we feel for the victim but also the insensitivity of family members scares us. 

Another episode that wins the heart is "Seetha", a story of a blind woman who is well confident and kind but gets surrounded by cruel people and motives.  

Other episodes also make a good impression in their way, especially the final realization of Venkatesan regarding his terrible act toward his son. Along with the other stories, the main dispute between the father and son was well maintained, though we can guess how it concludes it still has the impact which was meant to be.

Director implied how some people who act liberal toward the outside world, are not able to do the same when they come across the same situations in their families, they disagree to accept people as they are, And how innocent people are affected by those hasty decisions took in a fit of rage.

On the other hand, trying to make the house accountable for the good incidents and the magic thing appeared a bit forceful. Moreover, the cliffhanger at the end leads to a bit of confusion.  

Though it had some shortcomings Anantham makes us involved in its journey which contains love and is full of emotions.