MANJAPAI MOVIE REVIEW

'Manjapai' gained some prominence with the audience due to the involvement of two directors, behind the production of this film. N.Lingusamy with his brother N.Subash Chandra Bose of Thirrupathi Brothers has jointly produced this flick with A.Sargunam of 'Kalavaani' fame. Directed by debutante N.Ragavan, a former assistant of A.Sargunam, it promises to throw light on the plight of grandparents, especially those who are from the rural background. Can 'Manjapai' struck a chord with the audiences ?

Vemal, who is so accustomed to doing such simple roles, sleepwalks into the film. He has done it for the umpteenth time. He is adequate in such roles, but how he survives by doing such films alone, is something inexplicable. Lakshmi Menon plays the quintessential Tamizh heroine of such small budget films. She has less impact and of no relevance to the script, apart from being present in the songs and the build-up scenes to the songs. The axis of the script is Rajkiran and the veteran simply breezes through the film. The makers have tried to bring out the sort of performance he gave in Cheran's 'Thavamai Thavamirundhu' but too much of artificiality kills of those intentions, for sure. Rajkiran understood the nuances of his character's aspects and brought out the right emotions, especially for the climax portions. The rest of the cast such as Devipriya, Ashwin Raja and etc has very little screen timing and even little importance to the story.

Natraj handle's the costume department, and he has done a simple and neat job. Lakshmi Menon looks pleasant, especially in the sarees. Action choreography has been done by Dhilip Subbarayan and his work sufficed the need of the director. Nothing extraordinary nor over-the-top. The mini fight sequences involving Rajkiran, was well choreographed and matched Rajkiran's personality. A.R Mohan's art direction was simple, and the most notable work was the protagonist's posh apartment interiors, as well as the office set-up. Editing work has been credited to a debutante, Deva. There are not gimmicks from the editing table, and its just plain simple. The film's duration has been kept to less than 2 hours, which is a welcome relief. Cinematography has been handled by Masani, and apart from the wide angles for the initial rural portions and for the songs, there's nothing to speak about. Pedestrian output !

N.R Raghunanthan's musical score is average and some songs might be of liking to some folks. "Aagasa Nilavuthaan" is the opening introductory song and had plenty of montages highlighting the grandpa-grandson relationship. The song had plenty of rural locations, such as the fields, lakes and etc. "Sattena" is a dream song sequence, which had Vemal doing the routine dance, but alongside dancers of old age. "Ayyo Ayyo" is a montage song and highlights the comedic antics of Rajkiran, who tries to acclimatize with Chennai and the metropolitan lifestyle. "Paathu Paathu" is the typical folk dance number, and is shot on the lead pair with the extra dancers doing the choreographed moves, on a lake-based location. "Anbuthaan" is a situational bit song, shot on all the main characters of the film. The background score by N.R Raghunanthan, is a tad too heavy and melodramatic for contemporary films and sounds forced.

Debutante N.Ragavan has tried to come up with a K.Bhagyaraj-type family sentiment film, which has lots of mushy and emotionally wrought dialogues. The film is too formulaic and there's nothing organic about the proceedings of the screenplay. The sentimental values and the supposedly feel-good factor is forced upon the viewers. Some sequences are just too hard to digest and do make us to wonder, if at all N.Ragavan is targeting the cinema-going folks of the 70's & 80's era ! Well, the intention and message is of noble value, but the script is just woeful, where N.Ragavan tries to evoke sympathies from us by inserting needless dramatic moments, which does not add any value to the overall script. Old folks of the rural side might be out of touch with the globalized world we are accustomed to, but to condescend to the extent of what N.Ragavan did, is indigestible ! The problem highlighted in the film, is something which we can relate to, but it must be told in an convincing manner. 

'Manjapai' - The film opened and ended with the absolutely perfect, "Duh Moments" !


Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL