Anjaneya (film)

Anjaneya (transl. Hanuman) is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by N. Maharajan, featuring Ajith Kumar and Meera Jasmine in the lead roles. The film, produced by S. S. Chakravarthy, had its score and soundtrack composed by Mani Sharma. The film opened on 24 October 2003 on the occasion of Diwali and alongside Vijay's Thirumalai and the film gained high negative reviews from critics.^[1][2][3]

Anjaneya
Directed by	N. Maharajan
Written by	N. Maharajan
Produced by	S. S. Chakravarthy
Starring	Ajith Kumar Meera Jasmine
Cinematography	P. Selvakumar
Edited by	B. S. Vasu-Saleem
Music by	Mani Sharma
Production company	NIC Arts
Release date	24 October 2003 (2003-10-24)
Running time	174 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Plot

Paramaguru is an efficient police officer who fights against the scum of the society. He later masquerades as a thief to infiltrate into the underworld. The bad guys are surprised to find that Paramguru is the ACP and is out to get them, so they all gang up against him. In this process, a thrilling encounter takes place between the good and the evil. Paramaguru is helped in his fight against injustice by Divya, who falls in love with him.

Cast

• Ajith Kumar as ACP V. Paramaguru IPS
• Meera Jasmine as Divya
• Raghuvaran as Venkateswaran, Paramaguru's father
• Jaya Prakash Reddy as Jaya Prakash
• FEFSI Vijayan as Vettu Ramasamy
• Ramesh Khanna as Kolair
• Seetha as Prabhakaran's mother
• Kovai Sarala as Old Thief
• Adithya Menon as Siva
• P. Vasu as DGP
• Anu Hasan as Anu, Paramaguru's sister
• Ilavarasu as Eshwarapandiyan, Paramaguru's uncle
• Mohan Raman as Divya's father, Advocate
• Pyramid Natarajan as 5 lakhs vote Minister
• Girish Karnad as Retired Judge
• Mansoor Ali Khan as Contractor
• Vijay Krishnaraj as Lawyer
• Ponnambalam as SI Veerappan
• Besant Ravi as Jaya Prakash's henchman
• Mahanadi Shankar as Kulithalai Samy
• Thalaivasal Vijay as Government Employee
• Vietnam Veedu Sundaram as Paramaguru's neighbor
• Manivannan as Paramaguru's neighbour
• Kalairani as Paramaguru's neighbour
• Rajesh as Education officer
• Pandu as Police officer
• Nizhalgal Ravi as Education officer
• Peeli Sivam as Education officer
• LIC Narasimhan as Judge
• Sampath Ram as Palani Mani
• Ravikanth as DC
• Vinu Chakravarthy as Police officer
• Scissor Manohar as Minister's assistant
• Crane Manohar as Protester
• Chaplin Balu as Paramaguru's friend
• Nellai Siva as Police officer
• Nitish Veera as Paramaguru's friend
• Rathi special appearance in "Pavadai" song

Production

The leading female role was eventually handed to Meera Jasmine even though Reemma Sen was also approached earlier for the film.^[4] The film feature Ajith Kumar in his first role as a police officer, before further appearances in Aegan, Mankatha, Arrambam and Yennai Arindhaal.^[5] The film was shot within 47 days, with Ajith reportedly working extra time to complete scenes. Producers downplayed any publicity for the film, releasing the audio with little fanfare and not releasing a teaser trailer.^[5]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features 5 songs composed by Mani Sharma and lyrics were written by Vairamuthu and Kabilan.^[6] The song "Paisa Gopuram" is based on "Kodithe Kottali" from Tagore. The song "Vennila Vennila" is based on "Can I Tico Tico You" by Lou Bega from the album A Little Bit of Mambo.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Agap Porula"	Kabilan	P. Unnikrishnan, Sujatha	5:52
2.	"Ovvoru Naalum"	Kabilan	Tippu, Chorus	6:05
3.	"Paavadai Panjavarnam"	Kabilan	Shankar Mahadevan, Chorus	5:15
4.	"Paisa Gopuram"	Vairamuthu	Karthik, Anuradha Sriram	5:30
5.	"Vennila Vennila"	Vairamuthu	Udit Narayan, Harini	6:04
Total length:				28:46

Reception

Made on a high budget of ₹10 crore, Anjaneya received high negative reviews from the audience and critics, with the critic from The Hindu that “Ajith's acting was immatured” also claiming "the lack of consistency in the affects the film no end", criticizing Maharajan's direction.^[7][8]