Anjali (1990 film)

Anjali is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language children's drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. It stars Raghuvaran and Revathi, with Tarun, Shruti and Shamili in supporting roles. The film deals with the story of a dying mentally disabled child, and the emotional trauma experienced by her family.

Anjali was released on 12 July 1990 and was critically acclaimed, winning three National Film Awards, and was also featured at the 14th International Film Festival of India in the Indian Panorama section. Anjali was chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars in 1991, but was not nominated.

Plot

Civil engineer Shekhar lives with his wife Chitra and their two children, Arjun and Anu. Chitra delivers a third child, but the daughter is claimed to be stillborn. Two years later,Template:Sfn the family moves into a new apartment complex. They appear to have recovered from the loss and settled into daily life. Arjun and Anu initially clash with other children in the colony but are soon accepted into their group, which spends most of its time playing pranks and causing a commotion around the apartment block. The only tenant they are afraid of is Dennis Joseph, an ex-convict.

Chitra and the children visit Shekhar’s construction site to surprise him, only to learn he has left for an emergency. That evening, Shekhar lied that he was at the site all day. Chitra feels hurt to hear Shekhar lying and leaves the dining room. Arjun and Anu also sense that their father is lying to them. Shekhar apologizes to Chitra and consoles her and they both make up.

On New Year's Eve, Arjun slips out late at night with the older children to celebrate while Shekhar is out of town on a business trip. While dancing with his friends on the road, Arjun sees Shekhar with another woman, but a friend drags him away before he can confront his father. Later, Arjun and the other children are hauled by the police back to their homes. Chitra is furious to learn about Arjun's escapade and when Shekhar comes back, she asks him to punish Arjun. Arjun angrily blurts out that he saw Shekhar with another woman on New Year's Eve. Chitra begins suspecting that Shekhar is having an affair and confronts him, but Shekhar swears on both his children that he is not.

A few days later Chitra spots Shekhar talking to a woman and confronts him. Without waiting for his explanations, she rushes back home, and threatens to take the children and leave. Shekhar finally explains what has been happening.

Their third child, Anjali, was not stillborn but sustained a hypoxic brain injury during birth. The doctors did not give the child more than a few days to live. Shekhar colluded with the doctors to lie to his family that the child was stillborn. Against expectations, Anjali lived and was being treated under the care of Dr. Sheela, the woman Chitra saw. Although Chitra is saddened by this betrayal, she decides to bring Anjali back home.

Anjali is not like the other children and requires constant attention from both parents. This causes the other two siblings to dislike Anjali. The other children in the colony and school tease them by making fun of Anjali's condition. Arjun gets into a fight with the other children when they bully Anjali. He gets bruises from the altercation which saddens Anjali, but a special bond is born between the siblings. Arjun becomes protective of her and challenges the other children in the colony to a fight if they can't accept her. The children come to accept and Love Anjali.

The parents of the other children don’t want them to be around a mentally disabled child. They demand that Shekar and Chitra either leave the apartment or institutionalize Anjali. The only person to argue for Anjali's presence is Dennis. The parents are afraid of him and let it go. Soon, Anjali wins over everyone in the apartment complex and everyone comes to like her.

Shekhar, during a late-night visit to his construction site with Chitra and Anjali, witnesses a murder. He reports this to the police and the murderer is arrested. After getting out on bail, the murderer comes to Shekhar’s house to kill him. Dennis comes to their rescue and kills the murderer in the altercation and is arrested. Dennis thanks Shekhar before leaving as Anjali was the only person to show compassion to him.

The next morning, Anu tries to wake Anjali and realizes she has died in her sleep. The family rushes in as neighbors gather, mourning the loss of the child.

Production

Development

The idea of Anjali was developed by Mani Ratnam during the making of Nayakan (1987).Template:Sfn<ref name="anjali">Template:Cite magazine</ref> He initially approached Dennis Joseph to have the screenplay for Anjali written. Being a fan of Ratnam's work, Dennis Joseph agreed to write but as months went by he could not work on it due to other commitments. Eventually, Ratnam decided to write the film himself.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Anjali was also Ratnam's first film since Mouna Ragam (1986) without P. C. Sreeram as cinematographer, for which he used Madhu Ambat instead.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ambat said he agreed to work on the film because he liked Ratnam's earlier work.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan served as editors.Template:Sfn

Casting and filming

Mohan was originally considered for playing the male lead, but he refused due to creative differences with the director.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The role later went to Raghuvaran.Template:Sfn Shamili was three years old while doing this film. The crew had difficulty to get the character right for her, so they found the solution by recording videos of a special child. Shamili's father put in a lot of effort, and he would make her watch every day to observe the actions of the child.Template:Sfn<ref name="anjali" /> Prabhu's character was named after Dennis Joseph.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Singer Pop Shalini was offered the role of Anjali's sister but her mother refused the role as not to affect her education.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Anand Krishnamoorthi, who later gained fame as a sound engineer, made his debut as a child actor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics by Vaali.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is Ilaiyaraaja's 500th film as a composer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For the Telugu dubbed version, all the lyrics are written by Rajasri.<ref name="Spotify">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For the Hindi dubbed version, all lyrics were written by Sameer.<ref name="Gaana">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Track listing Template:Track listing Template:Track listing

Release and reception

Anjali was released on 12 July 1990 by GV Films.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> The following day, N. Krishnaswamy wrote for The Indian Express that "directing so many kids must have been such a difficult task ... and [Mani Ratnam] has been so successful in this department."<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> On 5 August 1990, Ananda Vikatan overwhelmingly appreciated the film, rating it 58 out of 100.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was noted to be inspired by the 1979 televised docudrama Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A Telugu dubbed version was released later that year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After the success of the Hindi dubbed version of Roja (1992), this film was dubbed in Hindi in 1993.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Accolades

Anjali was chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars in 1991, but was not nominated.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was screened at the International Film Festival of India along with Sandhya Raagam (1990) as the only two Tamil films as part of Indian Panorama.<ref name="iffi">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Event	Award	Recipient(s)	Template:Abbr
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards	Special Prize for Best Film	Anjali	<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
	Best Child Artist	Shamili
38th National Film Awards	Best Child Artist	Shamili, Tarun, Shruti	<ref name="38thaward">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Best Audiography	Pandu Rangan
	Best Feature Film in Tamil	Anjali
Cinema Express Awards	Best Director – Tamil	Mani Ratnam	<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
	Best Actress – Tamil	Revathi
	Best Child Actress	Shamili

See also

• List of submissions to the 63rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• Doni (film), 2013 Sri Lankan remake

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book

External links

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