How often have we seen the hero die in Tamil movies? Hmm...well very rarely & if at all it did, it would have created a ruckus among the fans. As the urban legend goes, Rajini's character's death in "Thalapathi" was unacceptable to the masses & Mani Ratnam had to change the climax in which the Superstar survives. But in a recent interview, the legendary director brushed aside those claims & stated that the climax was never changed at all. So in that case, how will it be if another bonafide star is shown in a similar manner in Venkat Prabhu's "Maanaadu". Perplexed by what I said, I wouldn't be surprised if you were as this was a movie that married an interesting theme with our mainstream cinema.
Abdul Khaaliq (STR) was flying down from Dubai to help his buddy, Eeswara (Premgi) elope with his lover who was tying the knot against her wishes. On the flight he gets acquainted with Seethalekshmi (Kalyani Priyadarshan) & offers her to join him as they were both going to the same event. However, Abdul & his friends couldn't work out their plan as expected as they were forced into a chase which eventually led to an unexpected accident. Soon enough, the police turned up & took them into custody, but offered to give them a clean chit if Abdul cooperated with the task that they had for him.
I have always been a huge fan of Venkat Prabhu since his debut venture "Chennai 600028", as I found it more often than not thoroughly entertaining. In his latest venture, Venkat decided to take up the topic of time loop that is fresh in many of our minds thanks to LJP. Even as LJP has moved on to his next project "Nanpakal Nerethu Mayakkam" with Mammookka, the audience is still stuck in the maze of "Churuli" with each one of us having our own theories as to what did he actually try to convey. Well Venkat has taken a concept similar to what we have observed in "Edge of Tomorrow" etc. (STR's character utters the long list in the movie itself). Im not going to harp about logic here as it didn't make much sense with regard to how STR & Suryah got involved in it but the manner in which Venkat has taken it deserves praise as it was both entertaining & hilarious.
Kudos to Praveen K L whose editing is the soul of this movie as it ensured that the pace is apt & the transition from scene to scene was smooth considering how rapidly it kept changing. This is where Venkat's screenplay played a big part as it made sure that though essentially some of the sequences looked similar, it still offered something different. Richard nathan's visuals were fine while Yuvan Shankar Raja's BGM was top notch.
It might have been packaged as a STR movie, but S J Suryah was an absolute scream as he showcased the eccentricity of the character impressively without going overboard. The manner in which his character get changed as the flick progresses was spot on. STR is a capable artist for sure but more than not he indulges in projects that barely tap his capabilities. Hence it was a good experience watching him in a role that at times shows him play second fiddle to Suryah with elan. As for the rest of the cast, Y G Mahendran & Kalyani was fine while others barely had much screen space.
Verdict: It's not a movie that we would make sense to our logic but it offers a whole entertaining experience which is typical of a Venkat Prabhu project. In short, check it out!!!
Rating: 3/5
Regards...Ben
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