Movie review Anniyan (transl.

Stranger) Anniyan is a psychological thriller Tamil movie

released in 2005. The plot revolves around Ramanujan Iyenger, alias Ambi. As portrayed in
the movie, Ambi is a strict law-abiding citizen, who follows all the public protocols, be them
civil, regarding money, so much so, even the rules of the traffic, strictly. Ambi does not like
protocols being broken, neither the civil codes being broken. The starting of the movie has
scenes depicting him persecuting people for violating traffic rules. Another scene shows him
being angry and dissatisfied with society when no one comes forward to help a bleeding
person on the road. He does not allow or involve in corruption, either. He follows the rules so
strictly that he is teased with the name "rules Ramanujan." His efforts to raise civic awareness
go in vain due to pervasive corruption and a general lack of seriousness.
Meanwhile, the movie portrays Anniyan, a grim reaper-themed vigilante who murders
corrupt and indifferent people. Anniyan creates a website, compiles a list of wrongdoers, and
kills them using punishments described in the Garuda Puranam, one of the ancient Hindu
scriptures. There are scenes of Anniyan murdering all the wrongdoers where people upload
the wrongdoings of others anonymously. Even Ambi himself uploads the name of a few who
have committed civil violations. Ambi is secretly in love with his neighbor Nandini, a
medical student, and an aspiring Carnatic singer, but never expresses his feelings due to fear
of rejection. When he does get the courage to do so during the annual festival with the help of
his friend, Sub-inspector Chari, she rejects him as she cannot bear his overbearing nature and
constant complaining and nit-picking. Distraught, Ambi attempts suicide, almost drowning
himself before having second thoughts.
Ambi, seeing the civil violations and breakage of rules in public, is so distressed that he
develops an alter ego, the Anniyan, as mentioned above, but he is unaware of it. Upon
rejection from Nandini, he develops another alter ego, Remo, a metrosexual model opposite
Ambi and makes Nandini like him. Nandini commits a corruption fraud, and Anniyan takes
over Ambi and chases her with an intent to kill. When Nandini somehow causes him to snap
out of it, he is taken to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences
(NIMHANS), where he meets Dr. Vijaykumar, the chief psychiatrist. Through recovered-
memory therapy, Dr. Vijaykumar uncovers Ambi's past with an attempt to find out what
condition Ambi is dealing with. Recovered-memory therapy is a treatment specifically
designed to elicit from the client forgotten or repressed memories of traumatic childhood
events, such as sexual abuse. Therapeutic techniques include hypnosis and guided imagery.
The therapy is controversial, provoking accusations and even legal disputes about the
veracity of the retrieved memories and the clinical validity and efficacy of the methods used.
After this therapy, Ambi was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. Research
indicates that the cause of DID is likely a psychological response to interpersonal and
environmental stresses, particularly during early childhood years when emotional neglect or
abuse may interfere with personality development. As many as 99% of individuals who
develop dissociative disorders have recognized personal histories of recurring, overpowering,
and often life-threatening disturbances or traumas at a sensitive developmental stage of
childhood (usually before age 6). Through the recovered-memory therapy, Dr. Vijaykumar
finds out about a traumatic incident that Ambi witnessed. Ambi's little sister dies due to
electrocution. A live wire touches a puddle of water as it had not been fixed in time, and
Ambi's sister falls into the electrocuted water and dies. Ambi, a loving brother and having a
solid bond with his sister, is deeply disturbed by her death and hence sticks to the civil
protocols as the lack of them had cost him his sister's life. This is how he develops the grim-
reaper alter-ego, Anniyan, to punish all the wrongdoers. After facing rejection from Nandini
and amidst the suicide attempt, he develops another alter ego, Remo.
 It is also discovered that while Anniyan and Remo are aware of Ambi as a separate person,
Ambi is oblivious to their existence within him. Vijaykumar declares that Remo will cease to
exist if Nandini reciprocates Ambi's feelings, but Anniyan will cease to exist only when
society reforms. Nandini accepts Ambi's love, and Remo disappears.
Multiple Personality disorder, now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
a dissociative disorder characterized by the presence in one individual of two or more distinct
identities or personality states that each recurrently takes control of the individual's behavior.
It is believed to be associated with severe physical and sexual abuse, especially during
childhood. 
Meanwhile, DCP Prabhakar and Chari investigate the murders committed by Anniyan. In
disguises, they discover clues left behind by Anniyan, the names of the punishments he meted
out to his victims. Prabhakar is personally determined to punish Anniyan, as one of his
victims was his elder brother. In a dramatic publicity stunt, Anniyan admits to the murders he
committed when he appears amidst the public and the press at the Nehru Stadium. He
explains the rationale behind them and says that only when every Indian is responsible and
sincere will the country prosper with developed nations. His methods draw both praise and
criticism. Prabhakar tries to catch Anniyan, but he escapes.
On investigating the phone records and IP address of Anniyan's internet activity, Prabhakar
discovers that the connection belongs to Ambi. Upon further analysis of security footage of
Anniyan's public appearance, Ambi's face is revealed under the hood. Prabhakar arrests Ambi
and subjects him to a polygraph test to make him confess to his crimes. The officers see that
he is telling the truth and is oblivious to killing anyone, believing in his innocence. Enraged
and not having any of it, Prabhakar orders all the officers and Chari to leave and begins
brutally attacking and tormenting Ambi with Garuda Puranam punishments. Ambi is
eventually thrown into a boiling hot saltwater tank by Prabhakar. When a traumatized Ambi
begs for mercy, Prabhakaran mockingly turns on the water cooler, making the water
extremely cold to the point it becomes ice so that Ambi will freeze to death.
The near-death experience and pain trigger Anniyan's reappearance. Ambi's personality
alternates between Ambi and Anniyan; he brutally subdues Prabhakar as Anniyan while
begging for mercy as Ambi. This scene is a clear indicator of how strong Anniyan is as an
alter ego and how Ambi is oblivious to his presence. People suffering from DID (MPD) are
often unaware of their transform ego's presence. Ambi's confession of not having memory of
committing any murders as Anniyan portrays the fact that there is a loss of memory in the
host when their alter ego takes over.
Ambi is tried for several murders, Vijaykumar testifies to Ambi's mental condition. Chari had
secretly recorded Ambi's interrogation and torture at Prabhakar's hands and presented it as
Ambi's mental condition. Ambi is acquitted of murders and is set to release when he is cured
of his MPD.

Ambi's treatment plan includes psychotherapy.  Also called talk therapy, the therapy is
designed to work through whatever triggered and triggers the DID. The goal is to help "fuse" the
distinct personality traits into one consolidated personality that can control the triggers. This
therapy often includes involving family members in the therapy. Some medications may help
with specific symptoms of DID, such as depression or anxiety. But the most effective
treatment is psychotherapy. A healthcare provider with specialized training in mental health
disorders, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, can guide you toward the proper treatment.
You may benefit from the individual, group, or family therapy.

Therapy focuses on:

 Identifying and working through past trauma or abuse.

 Managing sudden behavioral changes.
 Merging separate identities into a single identity.

Ambi is also shown to go under electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Still, ECT does not help
directly with DID, but rather the comorbid symptoms that occur along with it, e.g., anxiety
and depression. Psychotherapy for someone suffering from DID, like Ambi in this movie,
seems like the most efficient treatment plan, as it addresses the past traumas and helps the
client heal from them. Furthermore, when the client heals from the traumas, there won't be a
need for them to develop an alter ego to cope.
At the end of the movie, when Ambi is released from psychiatric care, he and Nandini get
married, and while on a train journey, Ambi sees an electrician, indirectly responsible for his
sister's death and throws him off the train, as Anniyan, but does not reveal to Nandini about
this. Implying that either he has relapsed, or the personalities have merged and co-existing.