MAAN KARATE MOVIE REVIEW

Man of the moment Sivakarthikeyan, basking in continuous success streak, is back hopping around in 'Maan Karate'. His highest budgeted film thus far, the promotions and marketing has been top-notch, especially when you have an A-list director, A.R Murugadoss in the fray as a fellow producer and the main story writer. Hansika for the glam and Anirudh for the music, can 'Maan Karate' cement Sivakarthikeyan as a saleable actor ?

Sivakarthikeyan has been steadily rising the steps of stardom and 'Maan Karate' happens to be the next level for him. There's a complete changeover for him, especially with his appearance and looks. He has been given the designer costumes, a trendy hairstyle and props to look dashing on screen. His dancing skills has improved exceptionally well, with more grace and style. Performance wise, there's nothing exceptional, though. He has repeated the 'Ethir Neechal' act once again, as the 'underdog' template is there in 'Maan Karate' as well. His comic timing and spontaneity is his trump card, and he does it with ease and elan. A good entertainer, with impressive timing and sense of humor, but can he survive the test of time ? Only time will decide ! Hansika Motwani plays the quintessential Tamizh glam-doll heroine role, of being pretty, glamorous and cute. She does a pretty job with her lip sync, especially when the language is not something she has a grasp of. Vamsi Krishna as the antagonist has a rather tepidly written role and sharing the same scenario is writer Shaji as Sivakarthikeyan's coach. Satish makes us chuckle with one or two of his dialogues and Soori makes a cameo appearance as a hyperbolic boxing referee, and leaves his mark. Sayaji Shinde, Rajesh Gopalan, Vinu Krithik, Preethi Shankar, Ashwathi Ravikumar, Ravi Prabakar, Swaminathan, Arun Roja, Yogi Babu, Vikramathithyan, Tejaswini and etc makes up the rest of the cast.

'Maan Karate' has a superior technical qualities as opposed to Sivakarthikeyan's past flicks. First of all the costume designers, Sathya N.J, Vasugi Bhaskar and Sayaam (Chandigarh) have done an excellent job in giving the hero a good changeover with trendy costumes, and not forgetting Hansika, who looks appealing in the songs. Dhilip Subbarayan takes care of the action choreography and in this film, it is all about boxing. The bulk of the action work takes place in the climax, and it was a decent work from Dhilip. Not too much of an exaggeration but nothing extraordinary, at the same time. But still kudos for him for choreographing apt moves for Sivakarthikeyan. Sreekar Prasad's editing was spot on, especially with the smooth flow of the film and he made sure the film retained both the fantasy and commercial elements, perfectly. Debutante art director, S.Raja Mohan does a pretty eye-catching work, especially with the boxing arena erected for the climax portion. The appealing set gave the film a very glossy and rich look. M.Sukumar, known for his expertise in capturing rustic and jungle atmosphere beautifully with his lenses, impresses us with his cinematography in a typical commercial potboiler such as this, too ! His lighting was brilliant, which gave the film a very glossy and rich color, but the first few minutes showcased his talent once again, with pristine shots of waterfalls and the green forests. 

Anirudh Ravichander handles the music and the young chap is in full form, with this 'Maan Karate' album. Most of the songs are chart-toppers and are sensational hits with the youth. "Royapuram Peter" is the opening introductory song for Sivakarthikeyan and is a pure mass type of song. It was shot in and around the slum-like urban areas and the fish market, to project Sivakarthikeyan as a "mass" hero. "Maanja" had a very colorful look with bright and eye-appealing colored attires for the lead pair and backup dancers, and was shot in and around Pondicherry's attractive neighborhoods. "Un Vizhigalil" was the best shot song, which was also shot in Pondicherry, but in the empty and deserted streets, during the dead night. But M.Sukumar made the location look like a place in the fantasy world, with his brilliant lighting work and the color tone used against the lighting. A visual treat, indeed ! "Darling Dambak" was shot in the picturesque fields of Punjab and featured Hansika in a glam avatar. The visuals were catchy here too, especially with the misty feel. "Open the Tasmac" is the groovy gaana song, sung by the gaana legend, composer Deva himself. The song had a simple yet colorful set by S.Raja Mohan, resembling a street and shops and once again highlighted Sivakarthikeyan's improving dance skills. Do check out the special appearances by Anirudh and A.R Murugadoss in the song ! What's more impressive is Anirudh's background score in the film, which actually elevates the mood of the scene by several notches. His groovy and interesting musical touches adds more zing and peppy elements to the proceedings of the film. 'Maan Karate' is certainly another step higher for Anirudh !

A.R Murugadoss takes the credit for story writing and his former assistant K.Thirukumaran debuts in this flick, while taking in charge of screenplay and direction. To put it bluntly, 'Maan Karate' is nowhere near what was promised through the promotions and exaggerated expectations created before the release. The screenplay is just a plain sailing all out, which in other terms we could say "lazy writing", perhaps ? The first half of the film has no implications whatsoever on the film's theme and is just a hodgepodge of boy-gags and contemporary youth jokes, structured according to Sivakarthikeyan's style. What's less impressive with the making, is the manner in which Sivakarthikeyan has been unnecessarily hyped to be somewhat, a big commercial star. There's nothing wrong in being a star, but Sivakarthikeyan's USP is his boy-next-door charm and the down-to-earth sort of appeal, which made him a fan favorite so quickly. But 'Maan Karate' crushes those elements and make us wonder, "Why, Siva ? Why ?". The love segments are just downright silly and lame and the direction seems to be even more lazy. Only the last 30 minutes, seem to have some sort of seriousness, and now everything seems to be overtly melodramatic and 'life-or-death' sort of scenarios, which reminds us of Sivakarthikeyan's not so long ago release, 'Ethir Neechal' all over again ! R.Senthil Kumar's funny dialogues provide some respite, but gags alone does not make an wholesome entertainer, wholesome ! The boxing match sequences, involving Sivakarthikeyan, are just prime examples of farcical writing ! 

'Maan Karate' - Vijay's super-hit 'Badri' seem like a classic, now !


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS


BY:TAMIL