Malayalam film Anamika directed by K P Venu and Abraham Lincoln starts by showing the pressures of being a modern day working couple; a wife hurriedly goes through the morning chores and tries to wake up her lazy husband by offering him bed tea and newspapers. We also get the idea that their marriage is still fresh as along with the complaining wife, there is also mischief and physical intimacy in the relationship.
The wife is Rachael (Samvrutha Sunil), an employee of a private bank while Louis (Arjun) is a civil engineer. After showing these facts, the film moves to the next level. Rachael becomes pregnant and her parents drop in after Louis decides that the delivery should be done in their place and not at her parents' village.
We get to see the couple's romance blossoming to a new level with a song in the backdrop shot in an amusement park. Everything is hunky-dory; Rachael delivers a healthy baby boy. The couple is happy and so are her parents. The boy is growing well. Then, one rainy night; the husband becomes indulgent and the wife becomes pregnant once again. The boy is hardly a year old. The wife gets worked up thinking of the ridicule she would have to face from her colleagues and about her health and beauty. But, the husband convinces her that colleagues and society do not matter. He also promises her that this time the child would be a girl, as beautiful as her and they would name her Anamika.
But, things go topsy-turvy in the third month, when a friend of Rachael lands up. She compounds Rachael's fears and even suggests a quack's name to get the job done (as it is illegal to abort a baby from the onset of third month). Rachael makes Louis see her point and her wish is done. The problem begins when Rachael starts getting guilt pangs after reading an article about various methods adopted for abortion with disgusting pictures of mutilated foetuses. From here, everything goes haywire. Murder and mayhem follow.
Though the film's intentions maybe good -- that life cannot be planned on an Excel worksheet and that we have to respect the wishes of the supreme maker -- the handling is poor to say the least.
Performances are good though. The actors look so sincere that we get the feeling that they are working towards something noble. It's heartening to see Salim Kumar in a sombre role of a friend, philosopher and guide to the hero. Rajan P Dev as Rachael's father provides some comic relief.
If not for anything else, Anamika is watchable for the performances.
Rediff Rating: