‘Annanukku Jai’ review: A passable political satire that works because of its lead actor

Is there any other actor as underrated in our industry as Attakathi Dinesh? Why do we see so little of him? These are questions that kept popping up as I watched Annanukku Jai , a political comedy, which few other actors in our industry could have pulled off.

He plays Matta Sekhar, the usual locality boy, always looking to hit the bottle in his free time. He runs a toddy shop along with his father and he’s in love with Sundari (Mahima Nambiar). Things seem to be going fine until his life is turned upside down when a politician tries to put his toddy shop out of business.

What we witness from then on is Sekhar’s transformation, from a nobody to a somebody, all told through comedy. Yet it’s not the kind of drastic change one sees in such a character in similar films. Dinesh is able to maintain a level of vulnerability even when he becomes a feared politician and one should look out for him in a scene where he fights off a bunch of goons, even without touching them.

A few of the comic scenes are genuinely funny and the twists, a must in a political film, just keep on coming. Yet, what disappoints is how dated the film looks and the freshness of ideas doesn’t seem to successfully reach viewers given the film’s treatment. At certain points, the film feels slow, even though it's under two hours long.

It may have its flaws but the film packs just enough to keep things moving. Even otherwise, it’s a film you can watch for Dinesh alone…because it’s a joy to watch this actor cry.