2002 was definitely the year of the rowdy in Tamil cinema and Ajith's Red had the dubious distinction of being one of the worst rowdies in the group. 2003 has seen our heroes move to the other side of the law and play honest and upright policemen. The latest to wear the khaki uniform is Ajith and unfortunately for him, his Aanjaneya looks like it will be the worst in this group too.

Paramaguru(Ajith) has been selected as an IPS officer and is awaiting his posting as an Assistant Commissioner of Police. He romances Divya(Meera Jasmine), who soon falls for him too. But his inability to remain silent in the face of injustice makes him beat up 'Vettu' Ramasamy('Pepsi' Vijayan), a local rowdy and this puts his posting in jeopardy. He overcomes it to become the AC and stands up to Jaiprakash(Jaiprakash Reddy), who seems to have both the police and the policitians in his pocket.

Aanjaneya makes mincemeat of the concept of continuity. The movie seems more like a series of sequences slapped together rather than one continuous, coherent movie. Characters, both good and bad, pop up as per the needs of one particular sequence and then disappear once their time is up. So we have a parade of villains, like the birthday boy in Anuhassan's town, the out-on-bail rowdy, the contractor and the minister, who simply provide opportunities for Ajith to flex his muscles and bash their goons up. And similarly, we have honest government officers(like 'Thalaivaasal Vijay) who also appear for a single scene. Even Meera Jasmine, after a couple of scenes where she falls for Ajith, disappears for a very long time.

It is usually easy to like the hero who plays a policeman since he usually ends up fighting a powerful villain and the establishment itself. But Aanjaneya has to be one of the few cases where I ended up disliking the hero. Ajith here puts people in harm's way but doesn't appear to do anything to ensure their safety. The boy who witnesses the murders is a case in point. Ajith convinces him to testify against them but then fails to provide him with protection. Maharajan's previous outing Vallarasu had Vijayakanth using a nice mix of brain and brawn. But Ajith here relies simply on brawn, making us wonder how he even passed the IPS exam!

As expected, the movie is quite violent and bloody and stuffed with stunt sequences. But most of the violence seems crude and exploitative. And after all the violence, the ending is laughable with most of the characters showing up when Ajith is conducting an important religious function and having a change of heart after Ajith's long speech. But there is still time for another fight sequence, where it is never clear why Ajith doesn't simply shoot his attackers and insists on fighting with them. The final scene is plain silly and cinematic instead of optimistic.

Ajith clearly lacks the body language that made the policeman role fit Vikram like a glove in Saami. His non-baritone voice lets him down too and he seems more at home when romancing Meera Jasmine. Meera does her job competently during the little time she is on screen. Jaiprakash Reddy brings back memories of the villains of yesteryear movies when menace was attempted to be conveyed through shouting and glaring looks. Raghuvaran looks old and haggard. Normally competent actors like Ramesh Khanna, Ilavarasu, Seetha, etc. are completely lost and ineffective in the haphazard screenplay.