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Saturday, 3 September 2011

Mangatha..Strictly NO rules

Hi all,
One of the rising directors in TamilNadu is VenkatPrabhu, who hasnt worked as any associate nor as an assistant . He has tried acting in side roles before, acted as a hero even, all went unnoticed, but it was his directorial talent which got him the recognition. He did Chennai-28 with a bunch of youngsters most of whom appearing on screen for the first time, based on gully cricket, which went on to become a blockbuster. Then came Saroja, with a subset of people in Chennai-28 and little fresh faces too, again a brilliant serious comedy movie, then came Goa, a nice breezy entertainer again with youngsters alone.. For the first time Venkat Prabhu has taken a movie with a big star, Ajith Kumar, fondly called as 'Thala', that too a landmark 50th movie.
Its a brave attempt by VenkatPrabhu, a movie with a hero with a very big fan following, though Ajith himself has alienated himself from all his fan associations, and told he is no longer responsible for the fan clubs, it takes a lot of mental work to decide to do a film like this. Ajith, though a versatile actor, couldn make the box office tick , his career has been always with peaks and downfalls. His recent track record is flop except for the remake Billa, and finally he has struck gold with Mangatha, a well deserved one.

The movie story is simple, can be said in one line, dealing with the betting money of IPL. I expected from the story line the intricate details of betting, but VP has made it simple, just dealing with the transfer of money.
Ajith as Vinayak is a suspended cop, portrayed as a very cunning person running madly behind money. And as expected, a group of youngsters join together to loot the money, and due to circumstances Ajith joins with them, or rather they join Ajith to loot it. They are successful in looting it, and the rest of the story is about how they escape back. Arjun, tailor made for police officer role, again does a cop here,is the cop chasing the betting gang, is the one against the baddie Ajith.

There are lot of characters in the movie, who come and disappear in a whisker, so first half becomes quite lengthy, and gives us a feel that most of the scenes are not wanted. But there are couple of scenes, which gives us a treat of Ajith's style statement. Ajith sporting the 'Salt and Pepper' look, reminds us of George Clooney in the Ocean's series. Ajith has tried to tickle the funny bone this time, and has succeeded too. As expected from VenkatPrabhu's movie, comedy is through the dialogues, and not scenes, Ajith has done it with  jokes dealing with drinking. Premji too joining the party has done a good job. There are couple of scenes in first half which are kept totally keeping Ajith's ability, and kudos for that thinking. The scene where Ajith plans  how to loot, where a lot of Ajith's are shown in the screen, is particularly my favourite one, and the small block of planning with a chessboard again by Ajith just before the interval is just awesome, and that scene is the one where Ajith expresses the villain in him through his eyes, is just brilliant..

If first half was slow, and just a introduction to the plot, the second half from the word go, goes in a brisk pacy manner, the events happening are so quick. Ajith, showcasing the actor in him, is just brilliant, could have avoided smoking though, he his found with a cigar in most of the scenes. His eyes expresses the villain in him, his expressions I have never seen it in his movies before. Ajith too like Rajini, can do justice to role if its a negative one than positive one. If Vaali, showed that he can act, Billa showed he is stylish, Mangatha does it all, matured acting than in Vaali, more stylish powerful confident than in Billa.
Though the second half is serious, and full of blood shed and mis-trusts, fun factor too is not lost, that keeps the movie going. There are a couple of twists in the movie, which are very 'moka' but totally unexpected, thats what VP is capable of, with just the screenplay he has done justice to a story which can be told even in a short film.
Background score is the one which impressed everyone, Yuvan has done a great job, the rerecording is brilliant, the theme music which comes only in the movie and not part of any songs, is just brilliant, and that will be the ringtone of all fans.
The one liners with Ajith speaks in the second half are just awesome, plenty of English dialogues, with a lot of beeps and mute inbetween are just awesome. One should surely congratulate him for the negative role he has done, not all would have accepted it, that too in landmark movie.

In short a treat for Ajith fans, with not a complicated story, but with plenty of entertainment. A welcome much deserved success for Ajith. With Mangatha showing the actor in Ajith, whether the upcoming movies will show it is a big question, movies like Asal, Kireedom, Paramasivan wont showcase the actor in him, the path Ajith takes in future is a very difficult one, a sequel to Billa is the next one in line, as its a negative role again, I think that will survive, after that only time can tell, whats in store for the Ultimate star.

Bye till next,


5 comments:

  1. de this has to be Venkat's worst screenplay.. He made even GOA a story less movie entertaining but not in Mankaatha.. HOw on the earth a SI claiming his bro is mental can just like that walk straight into Police control room???!!!! Crane vechu container mathuvaangalam athu yaarunm kandukamatangalam!!! didnt expect this from venkat prabu.. Ajith is the main reason why this movie will be a succes.. His style,laugh,etc reminded me the villain rajni of late 70's and 80 's :)..Premgi was damn mokka this time. VP cud have focused more on screenplay .. My favorite scene was the bloopers at the end :)

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  2. Nice review da! As said in the before comment you cud hav told abt the neagtives of the film too! :)

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  3. Mangatha - A movie which can only be done by Ajith. Man! I am seeing a outright negative role without any justification done by a mass hero. This has to be the first in Tamil.
    Apart from that if we can really sit through de hi-fi blunders in world cinema and drop our jaw in awe at outright impossibilities, we can certainly shut our mouth and watch similar blunders here too. To me the Container change was brilliant though impossible.
    BTW,I watched an entertainer for Ajith. If at all I need a perfect story+screenplay I would watch Ameer or Mani

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  4. Nice review :)

    @ bala : Dai, this is not ocean's 14. Dont think too much :P

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  5. @bala : apdi patha most of the first half copy.. many ajith's is from pirates 3rd part jack sparrow intro, traffic signal hack and loot is from italian job.. ths i feel is a good entertainer, could hav been better though , unwanted scenes in too many places in first half..

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