Corruption: This social evil forms the heart of this psycho-thriller. Shankar is known for his films about corruption. In Anniyan, he takes a deep dive into this issue
Spitting in public: It isn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that many state governments ruled spitting in public as an offense. In Anniyan, Ambi questions Charlie’s who spits at him and defends the actIn 2019 and 2020, the Chennai Traffic Police announced multiple rules and regulations for traffic and parking violations, however, the number of offenses is still on the rise.With the increase in cost of living, the metros have seen a steep rise in rent for accommodations. With which, abuse of power by houseowners also continue.Poor quality of brakes is an important reason that is touched up in the film. According to The Ministry of Road & Highways Transport Research, one serious road accident occurs every minute, and 16 people die on Indian roads every hour.Like the 2013 Kanhaiya Lal incident or the 2016 Delhi e-rickshaw driver, or 2021 Kochi , there have been incidents when bystanders and vehicles refuse to help victims for various reasons that include fear of false implications and getting trapped in legalThough the film touches upon this in a comical way, the poor quality of facilities in trains are a recurring issue that many people facePassenger complaints regarding poor quality of food are a recurring thing.A pivotal scene in the film leads to the death of Ambi's sister. With the increasing number of wine shops, selling liquor in black and selling of illicit liquor continueThe scene which leads to the death of Vidya, Ambi's sister. Walking on a water-clogged street is still a scary thing to doPrabhakar brutally assaults Ambi under custody, and the scene is chilling. The underlying text of custodial violence and the human rights violations are as real as it can getThe film isn't devoid of criticisms as well, and there is an expectation that the upcoming film might rectify the same.For example, it begs the question as to how Garuda Puranam, a Hindu script, can be stated as a means to declare punishments for all characters in a secular nation like IndiaThere have been accusations and criticisms against inaccurate depiction of mental health issues, in particular, the multiple personality disorderIn a nation where unemployment and unavailability of job due to one's caste, economic background, etc is a social evil, depiction of Charlie's character as 'lazy' attracted a lot of flak'Why didn't Anniyan punish Nandini and the music teacher, when even other victims begged mercy? Will this new remake answer this question? Let's wait and watch