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Today is the 100th day of ‘Mankatha’, one of the important films of ‘Thala’ Ajith and his fans. But there will be no big celebrations as the Thala is not interested at taking part in functions.
‘Mankatha’ is one of the very few blockbusters of 2011. And it witnessed the biggest opening in the recent years, after Superstar Rajinikanth’s ‘Enthiran’. “There was near 100 per cent occupancy in cinema halls in the first week,” trade sources recall.
According to producer Dhayanidhi Alagiri, the two important strengths of the movie, apart from Ajith, are director Venkat Prabhu and music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. The producer has thanked those who had worked for the movie on its 100th day.
The 50th film of the ‘Thala’ had Arjun, Trisha, Anjali, Lakshmi Rai, Andrea Jeremiah, Premgi Amaran and Vaibhav Reddy playing crucial roles. Produced by Dhayanidhi’s Cloud Nine Movies, it was distributed by Sun Pictures in association with Radaan.
Their first outing together did not work magic at the Box Office. Of course, it managed to scrape through in the first few weeks of its release, but it did not live up to the hype it had created before its release. We are talking about Parugu and the combination of Arjun and Bhaskar.
This, however, doesn’t stop them for working together again. They will soon team up for a commercial entertainer. Bhaskar has reportedly narrated an interesting idea to Bunny and the latter has given his nod.
The film will go on the floors once Arjun is done shooting for Trivikram Srinivas’ Honey. The actor’s last film Badrinath did not do well. This seems to be making him to plan his career moves wisely.
Coming back to Bhaskar’s film, what can we expect from it? A touching love story aside, the film might be expected to have the hero’s character curiously written. Parugu and Orange saw the heroes with their own distinct approach to life and love. Will Bhaskar repeat this feat or play safe?
Starring: Ajith Kumar, Trisha, Arjun, Andrea Jeremiah, Lakshmi Rai, Premji, Anjali, Vaibhav
Direction: Venkat Prabhu
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production: Dayanidhi Azhagiri, (Cloud Nine Movies)
Mankatha after having played ‘uLLe veLiye’ for quite a while, strikes finally, AND in style! For his golden jubilee flick, Ajith, the ‘golden hearted’ lad of Tamil cinema teams up with the uber cool Venkat Prabhu and his gang of boys and the effect is exciting to say the least.
When you have the handsome Vinayak Mahadev (Ajith) team himself with a few boys on his ‘Money’ mission and when there is cop Prithviraj (Arjun) who is hot on their trail, what you get is a heady cocktail of events that suck you into the premise of Mankatha albeit a bit late.
For Venkat Prabhu, it is a huge responsibility to fuse in his irreverent style of film making with the sensibilities of Ajith’s image and the director has not compromised one bit here and kudos to him for this.
Mankatha unfolds languorously and takes its own sweet time to establish the premise when the major portion of the first half keep flitting in between many tracks with three romances. When you start wondering whether the movie is going anywhere at all, it shifts to third gear to be only brought down by a song or two. And when the director finally decides to cast everything else away and focus on the central plot, the story takes an interesting detour and mutates into a Grand Prix race all the way from the second half with Venkat Prabhu reserving all his aces for the climax.
There is always no dearth of humor in Venkat Prabhu’s films but in Mankatha it is a bit muted when compared to his other works. Mostly the comic lines are at the expense of Premji and the best example is his analogy with Youtube sensation Sam Anderson. Dialogues like – “Light pottutu daan otta koodadhu, lightaa pottutu ottalam” bring cheers. And the typical Venkat Prabhu’s conceptualization of humor in a serious situation still finds place but they are few.
The portions that looked unnecessary additions in the first half are all neatly explained in the context of things at the end, leaving no loose ends.
With an ensemble cast, there is every likelihood that at least a few would be relegated to the sidelines but all of them are there deservedly.
When we talk about performances, Ajith is unarguably the pièce de résistance of Mankatha and it is his uninhibited performance that captivates the audience. For him, it is a superb knock on the field well laid out by Venkat Prabhu. He simply sizzles in his action shots and his cute expressions in dance sequences are a revelation. The consistency in Ajith’s characterization is a major plus for the film. Next to Ajith, it is action king Arjun who has held on to his fort. Premji, Jaiprakash, Vaibhav, Mahat and Ashwin round out the supporting cast who blend in with ease with the story. As it is a men’s film, women have nothing to do in Mankatha.
On the downside, the number of gun battles and their lengths may tire you a bit and the vital heist which should have been extremely powerful lacks the fizz. Songs are not a value addition to the film at all and are mostly road blocks sans ‘Machi open the bottle’.
Success of a cinematographer and editor lies in their unobtrusive work in sync with the subject, and cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan and editors Praveen & Srikanth score in this department.
“Unakku ide maadiri 500 pondaati kedappa daa.” - with this dialogue, Ajith completes his mission of breaking all the syntax of a Tamil hero and has gone on to prove that an actor should strictly treat the script as the hero. Take a bow Ajith! It is a memorable 50th film indeed.
Verdict: Ajith’s ‘Golden’ gamble with Venkat that has paid off !
Finally a guessing game has ended on the release date of Ajith starrer ‘Mankatha’, as Ayngaran International has officially announced the worldwide release date of ‘Mankatha’ as August 31!
August 31, although a Wednesday will mark important festivals and the ‘Mankatha’ team seems to want to utilize this to the fullest.
‘Mankatha’ that is directed by Venkat Prabhu has Ajith, Arjun, Trisha, Lakshmi Rai, Andrea, Anjali, Mahat, Premgi Amaren and many other stars, with music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
Ajith plays a baddie in this film who doesn’t spare even his ‘girlfriend’ Trisha, and cheats her for money, all to achieve his goal, whilst Arjun plays a rough-touch cop, chasing Vinayak Mahadevan and his gang.
It’s all the way ‘Mankatha da…’ this August 31!
Oh yes you read that right, but we are referring to their characters in ‘Mankatha’!
The trailer of ‘Mankatha’ which was recently unveiled showcased Ajith as a baddie who can do anything for money in the film. A rough and tough avatar of Ajith is what we witnessed. It seems, Ajith cheats Trisha and tricks her by playing her love interest in the film, all for money!
Trisha who plays Sanjana in the film is smitten by Vinayak Mahadevan, that is to say, thala Ajith. Trisha is the daughter of a goon from the slums of Dharavi and is madly in love with Ajith, willing to do anything for him. Ajith tricks her as if in love and uses Trisha in the film to achieve his goal. After which he leaves her and goes on to fulfill his mission.
Trisha, as she has expressed in many interviews, has a small yet a pivotal role in ‘Mankatha’, that is directed by Venkat Prabhu. The film also stars Arjun, Andrea, Premgi Amaren, Mahat, Lakshmi Rai and many others, with music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
Doing away with cheesy romantic entertainers and other films where heroes do ‘anything’ for love, ‘Mankatha’ is sure to set a rage among one and all, what with thala Ajith’s never seen before out-and-out villain self! Post your expectations on the film in here, for all you know the team might catch a glimpse of it…