With Aanandam, debutant director Ganesh Raj brings a fresh feel into Malayalam films. It is a campus entertainer that fills the viewer's mind with nostalgia and brings back all the memories from their college tour.

Vineeth Sreenivasan turns producer and singer Sachin Warrier turns music director with Anandam which also introduces seven actors in the lead roles.
 

The movie is all about a four-day industrial visit by a batch of engineering students from Kerala. The plot revolves around their relationships and how the incidents that happen during the trip affect them.
 

Written and directed by Ganesh Raj, Aanandam is decent campus flick, which would have been better with a much more gripping first half. The maker has succeeded in giving a feel good movie and has included a good cameo surprise. Altogether the movie has fun, sentiments, love and friendship in it, but lacks the x-factor needed to make it perfect.
 

The performances in the first ten minutes have a purposefully added over-enthusiasm which spoils the natural feel, but then the lead actors finally tune themselves into the characters and do justice to their roles. The newcomers are Arun Kurian, Roshan Mathew, Thomas Mathew, Vishak Nair, Anu Antony, Siddhi Mahajankatti and Anarkali Marikar. Rony David makes a mark by handling humor impressively.
 

The cinematography by Anend C Chandran is good and it brings a fresh feel to the movie. The songs and background score blend in well with the movie's inherent feel, but do not stand out on its own.
 

The movie has its ups and downs and is more of a multiplex audience film than a typical mass audience film. But it is a good attempt by the team.