Maanagaram Movie Review

What if a complex film like Aaranya Kaandam narrated in the most accessible manner, especially for our Tamil audiences, who prefer entertainment over artistic beauty? The end result would have been fruitful at the box office. 

Though a film’s quality can’t be judged with how much money it made for producers, satisfying your target audiences should be the main motto for filmmakers but to be honest, 90% of newcomers doesn’t mind much about the investors. Fortunately, director Lokesh Kanagaraj belongs to the remaining 90%, he exactly knows where to showcase his exemplary filmmaking skills and also smartly incorporated necessary elements for the mainstream audiences in Maanagaram. 

Maanagaram as the title suggests, the film deals with the perspectives of people on the fast moving urban life. A youngster (Shri) with a lot of dreams comes Chennai for an interview, then there is a care-free city dude (Sundeep Kishan), who goes to any extreme for the safety of his crush (Regina Cassandra). We also have a soft-spoken taxi driver starts his first-day job in the city and a dismayed underworld don(Madhusudhan), whose son gets wrongly abducted by three small time gangsters. How the lives of these four people hyperlinked and lead to the rest of the proceedings have been flawlessly written and executed by Lokesh Kanagaraj.

As said earlier hyperlink cinema is a complex theme, narrating it in the most entertaining fashion needs a lot of work and research. Any good cinema would have realism and fantasy in equal proportions, for example, you may or may not agree with the fact that all these four stories and characters get connected in a single day but at the same time, they are very real and the situations unwind in front of us are relatable. Yes, you get to see a lot of rouge cops (don’t restrict your vision to the last day scenes of Jallikattu protest ) but we also witness quite a few kind-hearted policemen in our daily life— the way Lokesh introduced such realistic characters is the biggest strength of Maanagaram, it's the movie's heart-line.

Discussing the brilliance of Lokesh’s writing, he connected each and every dots in the screenplay— The first scene opens with the interview session between Regina and Shri, the latter gets a call (we don’t know who) and the former gets a call (screen blinks Divya, who is that? We don’t have answer). In the climax, Shri speaks to his dad and Regina tells us much before that she is a close friend of Shri’s girlfriend Divya. Thus we get to know why Regina feels getting a job for Shri is very important! This is just one example of  Lokesh's detailed, there are plenty of things to discuss and decode. 

Among all the characters sketched by Lokesh, Munishkanth is a master stroke. After Mundasupatti, the actor makes us laugh throughout the film, his unfeigned innocence is a major attraction and it has been well utilized in the climax, where he moves away from the money bag!

All the actors have given their best. Sundeep Kishan’s swag mannerisms fit the bill for the bold and daring character while Shri’s subtle expressions rightly complement his righteous role and Regina has also carried her role with great ease.

Special mention to the young technical crew of Maanagaram, music composer Javed Riaz used background score whenever necessary and rightly understood the importance of silence. Cinematographer Selvakumar showcased the nightlife of Chennai in a different color and Philomin’s cuts have contributed for the crystal clear narration.

Our final word is Maanagaram can be watched without any second  thought, book your tickets and enjoy this quality thriller with your family!

Verdict: Must Watch

Rating : ****

Bogan movie review

Ever since the makers of Bogan unveiled the first look poster, there was a buzz in Kollywood saying that the film’s basic story is heavily inspired from John Woo’s stylish fantasy action thriller Face/Off. 

Perhaps director Lakshman would have thought that Face Transplantation is a high concept for Kollywood audiences so he preferred the accessible ‘Koodu Vittu Koodu Paaiythal’ (Ancient Body Swapping technique) in Bogan. The director has also justified the title by introducing Saint Bogar and incorporated more such native elements to suit the taste of our commercial audiences…

The film begins with Aditya (Arvind Swamy), who leads a king like life and tells us that his parents should have named him ‘Bogan’. Without wasting time, we get to see Vikram (‘Jayam’ Ravi), an upright honest cop, who operates closely with his young team and nail baddies in Chennai city. 

Unfortunately Vikram’s dad (Aadukalam  Naren) gets accused for robbing truckload of money from his own bank. During his investigation, Vikram finds that somehow Aditya makes unknown people to work for him and they eventually fall unconscious.

To catch Aditya, Vikram sketches a deceptive plan but winning over a criminal of high standard is not that easy. Aditya cleverly swaps his mind/soul with Vikram’s body and from there, the cat and mouse game begins...

The first few minutes of Bogan actually appears as the extension of Thani Oruvan but slowly, director Lakshman’s screenplay tells us that things won’t be subtle here and starts playing it to the gallery.

Be it the typical loosu ponu heroine, action sequences and pre-interval confrontation scene between Ravi and Arvind Swamy, Bogan can be rightly termed as stylishly made routine commercial entertainer!! Yes, Bogan has rich production values, two talented actors to enthrall us but at heart, the film is a regular mass masala entertainer.

Performance wise, Arvind Swamy completely own the film with his riveting performance as the bad-to-the-bone Aditya and attracts us with his stylish swag and apt modulation. Once again ‘Jayam’ Ravi is earnest, more than first half, the actor gets more scope to score post intermission and he does that with so much ease. Hansika looks voluptuous in few scenes in the second half and apart from that, the actress has only repeated her usual set of expressions.

Technically Anthony’s sharp cuts is a major plus while  Soundararajan’s grand visuals and Imman’s pulsating background score helped to maintain the tempo of the film.

Though Bogan worked to major extent, the climax was quite underwhelming with age old villain using hero’s loved ones to take revenge but otherwise, the director has got everything to satisfy mainstream audiences, who seek plain entertainment.

Verdict: Mass masala version of Face/Off

Director : Lakshman

Actors: ‘Jayam’ Ravi, Hansika, Arvind Swamy

Music: Imman

Producer: Prabhu Deva Studios

Visaaranai : Battle between mind and heart!

Visaaranai : Battle between mind and heart!

Only few films in global cinema cease the intelligence of the viewers and tug their heart harder that there would be no time to think but only to feel and cry for the characters shown on the big screen. Visaaranai is one such film, where you know that there won’t be any happy ending yet your heart yearns for it!

Spoilers ahead…

As a regular follower of Tamil cinema, I’m pretty much aware of the fact that Visaaranai is based on the novel (Lock Up) written by Chandrakumar so my mind should have told me there is no chance for Pandi (Attakathi Dinesh) to escape from the cold-blooded cops as the lone survivor in the brutal execution is the author himself. But as I said, Visaaranai tugs our heart big time that there is no time for the useless intelligence.

Attakathi Dinesh as Pandi in Visaaranai

Films like Interstellar, Inception or Vishwaroopam  would give all time high for movie buffs as they would be decoding the film and explain the finer details to their friends. But while watching films like A Separation, Children of Heaven or Mahanadhi, the plethora of emotions would move us deeply that we might shamelessly end up shedding tears.

The famous scene in Children of Heaven

It doesn’t mean Children of Heaven / A Separation don’t have any metaphoric scenes—nothing can match the climax of Children of Heaven with the Ali & Fish. In the same way, the guiltiness between the two couples in A Separation can’t be decoded or raved in words but one can only feel with their whole heart, Visaaranai is one such film!

In fact, for me Visaaranai is India's answer to The Secret in Their Eyes. Both the films deal about the loopholes in the system and how it affects two protagonists!

 Still from  A Separation

Authentic documentation yet poignant execution

Visaaranai is nothing but an authentic documentation of what has happened real/ what Chandrakumar had written. But still there is a cinematic nuance and ironies coexist beautifully in the movie.

The film satirically tells us that the brutal cops would treat both the poor and rich in the same way. At the first half of the film, we begin to think that Pandi and his friends are undergoing such unbearable physical tortures because they are care of platforms and they don’t have enough money and education to stand against the system.

Wealthy KK (Kishore) and Samuthirakani 

But the irony is a wealthy auditor KK (Kishore), who possess a respectable degree too becomes a prey for the greediness of the cops.  This paradox lies within the ecosystem designed by the ultimate creator.

I’m not writing much about the grey shaded characterizations of the cops and the purist Pandi as all the characters existed in real life. The solid characterizations have indeed contributed big time for the cinematic excellence but whom should I appreciate? Vetrimaran or Chandrakumar? May be, I should curse the ultimate creator as the innocent human beings were mercilessly tortured and lost their lives.

Kudos Chandrakumar and Vetrimaran

Kudos to Vetrimaran and Chandrakumar for registering the barbarity of the cops and how they are escaping through the loopholes of the system.

In a state like Tamil Nadu where the reach of cinema is powerful than novel, the screen adaptation of Lock Up is an eye opener and I’m sure Vetrimaran’s genuine effort in Visaaranai will be discussed for many years!

Ratings : *****

- Rajasekar S