There is nothing as off-putting as a suspense thriller running out of steam and losing its unpredictability. That is what happens to Anant Mahadevan's latest film Anamika .
The movie, starring Dino Morea , Minissha Lamba , Koena Mitra , Gulshan Grover and Achint Kaur, has a few deft strokes of a good thriller that are evenly divided throughout the course of the film to keep your interest from waning. But overall, the film fails to engross you because it lacks a credible, convincing development in the plot. The final unraveling does not hit you because you anticipate it well before the climax.
Jia (Minissha Lamba), a part-time escort, falls for the charm of Vikram Sisodiya (Dino Morea) and accepts his proposal of marriage after just a few days of knowing him. Vikram is a widower whose first wife Anamika's death is still a mystery. Vikram tells Jia about Anamika, but he apparently doesn't reveal everything.
After romancing around at the picturesque locales of Thailand, the couple arrive at Vikram's ancestral place, a gloomy palace in Rajasthan under the care of Vikram's childhood friend Malini (Koena Mitra).
Also on the sidelines is Vikram's perpetually peeved brother-in-law (Gulshan Grover) who is a cop with an over-suspicious demeanor.
In her new home, Jia is constantly overwhelmed by the talk about 'Anamika'. So much so that after a while she actually begins to see Anamika in the palace. What's the mystery? Who killed Anamika? Is Jia's life in danger as well?
The answers to these questions are not difficult to guess even if you doze off intermittently through the course of the film - which I suspect many people are wont to do.
'Anamika' flounders partly because the director ( Anant Mahadevan ) did not ensure a tight script in the first place and partly because there is no convincing motive to the crime. The movie, inspired from the suspense novel 'Rebecca', borrows the basic storyline from the book but adds many changes to Indianize the plot.
Minissha Lamba is the only one among actors who grabs your attention with her screen presence. Beautiful she is, but the girl can also act. Her Jia is indecisive, modest, apologetic and yet dreamy eyed. Alongside her Dino Morea manages a fair enough performance playing a suave man with erratic mood swings.
Koena Mitra is expressionless. Her face has a plastic quality that suits a model but not an actor. Gulshan Grover could have done better with some restraint in his performance.
'Anamika' works only in patches. The film begins well but loses its steam mid-way. And the climax is a let down.
Movie Review : Could've been better (3/10) There is nothing as off-putting as a suspense thriller running out of steam and losing its unpredictability. That is what happens ...
Anamika : Movie Review
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