Mankatha Movie Review

Banner: Sun Pictures, Cloud Nine Movies
Production: Kalanidhi Maaran, Dayanidhi Azhagiri, Vivek Rathinavel
Direction: Venkat Prabhu
Star-casts: Ajith Kumar, Arjun, Trisha, Lakshmi Rai, Vaibhav, Aravind Akash, Anjali, Andrea Jeremiah and others
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Ajith Kumar’s film release is always an event. Of course, the actor has huge fans following him across the globe. There have been more reasons why the film has been generating huge waves right from Day 1 of shooting. Much more than the reason that ‘Mankatha’ happens to be Ajith Kumar’s 50th film, what made the towns filled with excitements was the reason that Thala is playing negative role in the movie.
There have been yet more reasons why the film was hitting headlines persistently. Changing hands of production as almost all the top production houses eyed on the project. The other factors were the team and the ensemble star-casts.
We bring you the first exclusive review of the most expected film Mankatha.
The film opens with police officer Vinayak suspended for saving Faizal from bunch of cops. Then there is a serious issue running down the lane of Mumbai about bookies and match fixing and CBI officials led by Prithviraj on the track behind them. Meanwhile a group of youngsters – Sumanth, Ganesh, Mahat, and Prem hatches a plan to loot the betting money of Rs.500 Crores. They have a perfect plan, but things take a turn when Vinayak joins them.

When it’s an Ajith Kumar’s film, what more can you expect other than the actor’s style and trademarks. ‘Mankatha’ establishes more off the Ajith Kumar’s style, but doesn’t reminiscence of some of his recent movies ‘Billa’, ‘Aegan’ and ‘Aasal’, where it didn’t have more verbal works for the actor, but his ramp walks. This one has lots of new stuffs from ‘Thala’ as he steps into a different role. Say for instance, there is no transformation from Bad into Good and he is ‘Bad’ right from beginning till the end. He has no mercy, compassion, affection, Love and what an usual Tamil hero has for the other characters in the film.
‘Money, Money, Money, Money…….’ it’s everything for him.

Well during the point of intermission, the audiences might feel quite puzzled over the protagonist revealing all his plans about finishing the game. But the ‘Game isn’t over till the final credits’. In fact, you’ll have no clue till the last 60secs of the film on what’s going on.

Ajith Kumar is awesome and his modulation in voice and utilization of Venkat Prabhu’s comedy sense. We had never seen Ajith Kumar using so much of profane language.

Don’t presume this film to be only for Ajith Kumar for each and every character in the film sways on with equal importance. Action King Arjun gets a meaty role much equivalent to Ajith Kumar and is over the top with his performance. Trisha doesn’t get a lengthy role, but looks beautiful and pretty charming. Lakshmi Rai doesn’t appear in more than 5 scenes. Premji Amaran scores well with his ‘Black Humour’. Mahat and Ganesh are okay with performances. Vaibhav does justice to his role and he emotes exactly to the surpassing degrees. Anjali is merely used for romantic portions and so is Andrea.

The greatest highlight of the film is last 40mins of the film that will make you laugh, move you to the edge of seats and finally walk out of theatres with invigorated spirits. Don’t miss the behind the scenes bloopers during final credit that will throw huge surprise to the audiences. The first half is filled with the establishment of characters while the second half is a roller coaster ride with lots of twists and turns.

Technically, it’s Yuvan Shankar Raja rocking and rocking to the core. The songs are at its best with ‘Machi Open the Bottle’ turning to be the cherry pick of the album and so is title song ‘Vilayaadu Mankatha’.
Cinematography by Sakthi Saravanan is top-notching and editing works by Praveen is crisp. Watch out for the scenes where we Ajith Kumar working inside his house, the multiple frame is spellbinding.

Thanks to Venkat Prabhu for making Ajith Kumar’s 50th film so special. Our final verdict – ‘Mankatha’ is the best of all 50 movies in Ajith Kumar’s career.

The film isn’t just for Ajith Kumar fans, but for the universal audiences.

Verdict: Mankatha – A Tribute to Ajith Kumar’s career