MANKATHA MOVIE REVIEW

Venkat Prabhu is back with a not just a bang but a LOUD one with this biggie, Mankatha with none other than the "King of Openings" in Tamizh cinema, Ajith Kumar. Both of them needed a hit as Venkat's previous Goa was a non-performer and Ajith's previous two films Asal and Aegan were big drabs and huge disappointment for his fans. This combination was very much anticipated with interests since Venkat never worked with a major star before and moreover this turning out to be Ajith's Golden Jubilee 50th film. The promos and trailers were very impressive and the final product too was quite a puncher, just falling short of being truly exceptional.

Technicians of the film has worked wonders for it and all the hard work put in was evident on the screen. Vasugi Bhaskar's costumes were very apt for the characters and thanks to her suggestions of giving Ajith a salt-and-pepper look, "Thale" was looking smashing in the film with his blazers and suits. After Rajnikanth, none would have looked as suave as Ajith. Arjun's looks and costumes were stylish as well and Trisha's dresses made her look elegant and pretty. Silva's stunts were brilliant with the shooting scenes in the warehouse and the climax fight sequences were well executed. Venkat Prabhu should be applauded too for mixing in good car and bike stunt sequences for Ajith, since it is his forte. Art director Videsh did a commendable job as well by giving authentic looks to the sets, be it Ajith's stylishly made apartment home, the warehouse, the cinema theater and the "Leisure Bar" setup. Praveen K.L and N.B Srikanth, the editors work was neat and the "Chess Board" scene was the highlight of their editing prowess. Mankatha will be one of cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan's best works ever. Be it the movements made in the opening scene of Ajith and the angle's chosen for the fight sequences, it's clearly visible that he had a gala time shooting this film with his lenses. The car chase and heist scenes plus the "Chess Board" sequence, are some of his exemplary works. Job very well done by him.

Yuvan Shankar Raja delivered good numbers for the film with the "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" number and the "Theme Track" being the best of the lot which were perfect build-ups for Ajith. His re-recording work was very well done, with various styles of music experimented in the background scores. The "Vilaiyadu Mankatha" number was the best picturised, being shot in a discotheque with brilliant ambience and foot-stepping moves by Kalyan, being perfect match for Yuvan's beats. "Vaada bin Laada" number was very well conceived with the constantly changing fittings and furnitures well done by the VFX team. "Machi Open the Bottle" was peppy and well shot with energetic dance movements and "Balle Lakka" being casual and lightweight with the added glamour of skimpily dressed dancers. "Nanbane" track was well conceived and wonderfully written by the legendary Vaali. "Nee Naan" song picturised on Vaibhav and Anjali was straightforward and the montage sequences worked well for the song.

Describing Ajith's performance in a word is impossible but he was a class apart from any other artiste in the film. He was in a league of his own and hats off to "Thale" for being daring enough to choose a character which was not only grey in shades, but a out-and-out bad***. His dialogue delivery was brilliant and he oozes charm, grace, style and awesome screen presence. It's a big gift for an actor or a hero especially to be adored in a totally antagonistic character and after MR Radha, Rajnikanth, Raghuvaran and Sathyaraj no other actor was able to hold the attention and interest of the audience by playing a bad & mean character, with a touch of class. It's not a exaggeration to say that after Rajnikanth, no one else had such strong aura and charisma in playing the lead role. "Thale" has ROCKED!! It's a good changeover for Arjun who was doing mediocre films on his own and he was well presented and needless to say of his action sequences, he was on top form. Premji with his cute and terrific comedy timing takes the cake among the sidekicks. Vaibhav and Ashwin were natural in their respective roles and Mahat had a decent entry. Jayaprakash and Aravind Akash was adequate without going overboard, though Subbu Panchu's acting was a little bit wooden and forced. The heroines had nothing much to do in this boy's flick, but they were needed to move the plot from one scene to another. Trisha was cute and it's a welcome to see her dub in her own voice. Anjali, Andrea and Lakshmi Rai did what was expected from them.

The director has always insisted that the script was written first but end of the day the question arises whether the racy script complemented Ajith's persona or whether it was Ajith's charisma and presence which complemented the script. It works both ways, though the second proposition has more weightage than the first one. Venkat Prabhu's screenplay was very racy especially in the second half, where he brought out all the big guns one after the another, with new twists and turns being churned out every few moments. This move by him made the audiences to be on their edge of the seat. His forte in his scripts are the comedy portions being infused in serious scenes and it was evident in this film as well but lesser in number compared to his previous scripts. He must be appreciated though for putting in cheeky comedy lines, involving the artistes themselves, be it Premji's parody of Rajnikanth and Silambarasan or even relating to the alter-ego's of the characters, with Ajith's dialogue of saying "Naanum Evvalavu Naalathaan Nallavanaaga Nadikkurathu" being the best (even Anjali had her previous popular dialogue "Nijamathaan Solriya" which was popular in her debut film "Kattradhu Tamizh"). The amalgamation of few creative and interesting ideas elevates the script. Though the film has plenty of plus points, the script has it's pitfalls in the form of loopholes which can arouse plenty of unanswered questions.

It takes great guts for an actor who's idolized by thousands and thousands of fans as hero, to play a totally mean and diabolic money-minded character and Ajith deserves a big round of applause for having the guts and gumption to pull it off and that too in such stylish manner. If at all the script had no loose ends, this would have been a classic commercial entertainer.


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL