Surya’s ‘Anjaan’: A Mumbai gangster tale

Tamil director N. Lingusamy returns to screens on Thursday with the much-awaited Surya film Anjaan. Although his last film, Vettai, a successful family drama, was made in 2012, Lingusamy has been in the news for encouraging good cinema and spotting new talent through his production house, Thirupathi Brothers.

The critically acclaimed Vazhakku Enn 18/9 put him on the national podium when it was recognised as the Best Tamil Feature Film, besides bringing honours to little-known make-up artist Raja. Prabhu Solomon’s Kumki, another Thirupathi Brothers production, was a box office hit. As a distributor, Thirupathi Brothers showcased promising talent such as Vijay Milton’s Goli Soda, and the recently released Sathuranga Vettai. Lingusamy is clearly a brand today.

“I have wanted to do a film with Surya for quite some time,” Lingusamy says. “This story came to my mind while I was working with Karthi [Surya’s younger brother] in Paiya. Karthi liked the story.”

“After narrating the script to Surya, we had many exchanges over his look. Surya sent me several references until we pinned on the final.”

Surya plays two characters, Krishna and Raju, an underworld gangster. Surya’s stylish look in this film has been much lauded, prompting even the director and cinematographer Santosh Sivan to sport a similar look for a while.

Shot in Mumbai and Goa, this action thriller features Bollywood biggies including Manoj Bajpayee, Dalip Tahil, Vidyut Jamwal and Asif Basra. Bajpayee plays the villain in this commercial entertainer that has doses of love, action and humour. Samantha Ruth Prabhu is paired opposite Surya.

“I liked Manoj Bajpayee’s performance in Satya, and felt he was the right person to play a don in Anjaan,” says Lingusamy, an admirer of actor-director Bhagyaraj and director Maniratnam’s work.

Peppy music and cool action scenes mark Lingusamy’s films. Going by the trailer and songs, Anjaan looks promising. Surya has sung Ek Do Theen Chaar Othukkadi, his first at playback singing, set to a tune by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The cinematography has been handled by Santosh Sivan. The Telugu version of Anjaan is titled Sikander.