Annai (transl. Mother) is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Manobala. The film stars Bhanupriya, Nassar and Baby Sadhika while Ramesh Khanna, Manobala, and Mayilsamy among others form an ensemble cast. Music for the film was composed by Dhina and the film was released on 11 February 2000.

Annai
Title card
Directed byManobala
Written byManobala
Dialogue byKavitha Bharathi
Rajprabhu
Produced byS. Suresh
StarringBhanupriya
Nassar
Baby Sarika
CinematographyB. Kannan
Music byDhina
Production
company
SG Telearts
Release date
  • 11 February 2000 (2000-02-11)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

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A wealthy widow named Kanagamahalakshmi, who loses her husband and unborn child in a car crash, opts to look after an orphan child for a period of one month every year. Her decision operates smoothly for a few years. However, when the child, Anjali, returns to the house for a third year, problems begin to arise. She expresses her distaste at the various deficiencies of Kanagamahalakshmi's household, including her foster parent herself. How Anjali makes the members in the house behave properly forms the rest of the story.

Cast

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Production

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The film was shot on a budget of 33 lakh rupees within 14 days.[1]

Soundtrack

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The music was composed by Dhina.[2]

Song Singers Lyrics
"Aaraariro Aaraario" Swarnalatha Kadhal Mathi
"Chinna Chinna" Nithyashree Mahadevan, P. Unnikrishnan
"Hey Chittuku Chittan" Anuradha Sriram
"Vennilavae Vennilavae" I Kalyani Menon
"Vennilavae Vennilavae" II Swarnalatha

Reception

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Krishna Chidambaram of Kalki criticised the director for treating the theme of adoption half-heartedly.[3] S. R. Ashok Kumar of The Hindu appreciated Kannan's cinematography, the dialogues by Kavitha Bharathi and Rajprabhu, and Manobala's writing and direction, but felt Dhina's music "at times drifts away" from the main story.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Small budgets for Mano". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 11 May 2000. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Annai". JioSaavn. 30 December 2000. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  3. ^ சிதம்பரம், கிருஷ்ணா (27 February 2000). "அன்னை". Kalki (in Tamil). pp. 88–89. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Ashok Kumar, S. R. (18 February 2000). "Film Review: Annai". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
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