India's George Clooney is Here!

Mankatha Da!!

What do you get when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? You get Mankatha! Thala Ajith is back for his 50th film! and how! He is everywhere, what with his salt and pepper hairdo, overwhelming onscreen persona, slow-mo strutting, a devil-may-care attitude and a bad ass character that made the viewers squealing for more!

I saw Mankatha on the 4th, my expectations a double notch higher due to the frenzy created by the teaser trailers and ofcourse the single soundtrack from the movie "Vilayadu Mankatha" . As i entered our lovable Sathyam Cinemas, i heard a bunch of kids chanting "Machi open the bottle!" and that did it! I rushed into the theatre, just in time when the Censor Board's certificate was being screened! The otherwise dull audience bored to death by the mindless commercials were in uproar!! Fans screaming "Thala! Thala! Thala!" , my own sister shouting and clapping as soon the titles started rolling. It was MAYHEM.


As each second passed, the audience wait with bated breath for the protagonist's introduction. The scene cuts to a police encounter in the middle of no-where, with Faizal (Aravind Akash) tied down, terrified about the getting killed any minute. And lo, flying through the air and landing on the ground, is a massive car, and out steps namma thala, with the BG theme blaring! Police uniform, Ray Ban shades, a lazy strut and a cool face. That, is Ajith as Vinayak Mahadev for you. Once again, MAYHEM.


The Plot is wafer thin though! Who takes home 500 Crores of match fixing money  forms the crux of the movie. The local kingpin Arumugam Chettiar (Jayaprakash) who deals with the bookies is the person handling the money.

Sumanth (Vaibhav), Prem (Premji) - hacker , Ganesh (Ashwin Kakumanu) - a corrupt sub inspector and Mahath (Mahat) - a bar owner chart out their plan to place their itching hands on the loot. Vinayak a silent spectator to their fiasco tags along, revealing his true colors!

Greed. Betrayal and Lust. That forms the rest of the story as each one of the characters try to pull the other person down.

Vinayak has no morals. His psychotic lust for money brilliantly expressed, Ajith surprises the audience in every frame. Intense & Intimidating, Merciless & Diabolical, he makes bad look cool. If you thought the mute Ajith in Vaali was evil, wait till you catch him in this unimaginable avatar!!

I told you about the unstoppable force - Vinayak Mahadev. What about the immovable object? Enter ACP Prithviraj essayed by Action King Arjun. With his ruggedness and stylish moves, he does a Mudhalvan by tightening the noose around the local goondas of Mumbai.

As the pace picks up towards the middle of the movie, Venkat Prabhu skillfully weaves his magic, linking the sub plots and presenting to the audience, an explosive game of deceit and greed.

Allthough Mankatha is supposed to be a heist film, the heist by itself happens in a jiffy, which was a dampener for me. What really amazed me was the fact that, Vinayak shown as an extremely clever cat - depends on 4 rank amateurs to get the job done.

Nevertheless, an entertaining film, what really sets the movie apart is Venkat Prabhu and Ajith's decision to take this movie in the way they wanted it to -

Strictly No Rules!

And it works. It REALLY works. Frankly speaking i am bloody tired of watching goody goody heroes trying to be something that they are not and that is in reality - not possible at all!

No mother sentiment, sister sentiment and other usual filmy stuff! (THANK GOD)

It was a satisfying experience allright. Watching the two heavyweights, Ajith and Arjun face-off on screen gave a strange sense of awesomeness and pleasure! The many times after watching awesome English multi-starrers, the wait is finally over!

Go watch Mankatha. For Ajith. Put aside the gaping holes and just watch for Ajith. The man has come a long way and as far as i see it, he is the only other Superstar after Rajni & Kamal who can pull of negative roles! Bring on the heat i say!!

And so as the old saying goes, Life begins at 40.

And i am pretty sure i just heard Ajith say "Mankatha Da!!"

P.S - Don't miss the bloopers!