Manithan

[MysteRy]

Manithan-Audio Review

Cast: Udhayanidhi Stalin, Hansika, Radharavi
Music: Santhosh Narayanan
Direction: Ahmed

Album Analysis:

Aval
Singers: Pradeep, Priya Hemesh
‘Aval’ is typical Santhosh Narayanan. Be it the arrangements, the tune & the rendition parameters. The tune is a winner as it has the ingredients to keep one occupied and is simple to get started with. There is a soulful violin-cello piece in the interlude. A good track whose USP is staying simple!

Kondaatam
Singers: Radar, Divya Ramani
‘Kondaatam’ has Santhosh lining up some Spanish styled arrangements which are foot tapping and catchy. The rendition is lively and one wonders how this Tango-ish number is going to be picturized on screen. Montage maybe?

Adho (Manithan Theme)
Singers: Kalpana Raghavendar
‘Adho’ tries to stay soulful and is backed up by the piano, chorus portions in harmony. This short theme music gets too melodramatic at one point and can be judged only with the visuals.

Mun Selladaa
Singers: Anirudh, ADK
The pick of the lot! ‘Mun Sellada’ follows a ‘Deep Purple’ like structure and has a tinge of progressive rock to the arrangements. Anirudh’s vocals are just a mere presence which gets overwhelmed by the chorus and ADK’s rap portions. Lot of templates and already existing typical rock samples are used in this song (whatever happened to real instrument recordings, one wonders). Still, a good enough listen

Poi Vaazhvaa
Singers: Vijay Narain, Santhosh Narayanan
‘Poi Vaazhvaa’ is a lilting melancholic tune that sticks to being simple and that makes it hummable. The arrangements are not jarring and aid the soul of the track. But, definitely a certain amount of monotony has kicked in with Santhosh Narayanan’s compositions. That goes against this track.
On the whole, ‘Manidhan’ is a harmless album that doesn't have many negatives nor does it provides us any excitement. As mentioned above, there is a certain level of repetitiveness that has started to creep in with Santhosh Narayanan’s numbers. His style of trying out funky renditions for a mainstream track is running out of steam. Maybe it is the auto-tuning parameter or his choice of similar toned singers but this sure is the time for some reinvention. There is ‘Kabali’ waiting in the wings and a plateful of interesting projects like Iraivi. So, that shouldn’t be difficult.

[MysteRy]

Udhayanidhi Stalin’s 'Manithan' gets ‘U’ certificate

Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Manithan has been censored with a clean ‘U’ certificate. Reports say that the producer turned actor is planning to release the film on April 29.

Directed by Ahmed of Endrendrum Punnagai fame, the film is a remake of Hindi court room drama ‘Jolly LLB’ starring Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani.

Udhayanidhi is playing Arshad Warsi’s role in Manithan while Prakash Raj reprising the role of Boman Irani.  The film also has Hansika, Vivek, Aishwarya Rajesh and Radharavi in pivotal roles.

Santhosh Narayanan has scored music for Manithan and all the songs are getting warm reception from music listeners.

[MysteRy]

Udhayanidhi Stalin’s 'Manithan' denied tax exemption

Udhayanidhi Stalin’s films are often denied tax exemption by Tamilnadu government in the last five years. 

Thanks to the actor’s DMK political background, his films are continuously denied tax exemption by citing silly reasons and this time the committee has come up with a justification that Manithan is not a Tamil word!

 Udhay has said that he is going to fight this issue on court. In the last five years, the actor has got tax exemptions only after filing cases against the denial.

 “Will be filing a case against the govt on Monday ! Don't know whether I will win or loose! But I Wil keep fighting! #Manithan”, wrote Udhayanidhi on Twitter.

[MysteRy]

Rajinikanth watches 'Manithan', lauds Udhayanidhi

After hearing positive reports in major media houses, Superstar Rajinikanth expressed his wish to watch Udhayanidhi’s Manithan and immediately, the producer turned actor arranged a special screening for the veteran.

After watching the film, Rajinikanth lauded the entire crew and asked Udhay to continue acting in such meaningful films. “Got a call from #superstar ! He saw #Manithan lasnite! He congratulated the whole team for selecting this script! A proud fan moment for me”, wrote Udhay on Twitter.

When Udhay told Rajinikanth : “I was little afraid that the film should come out well because the title is as same as your yesteryear film”, Superstar replied : “Nothing like that. You have chosen a good story, continue acting in such films, it suits you”.

Meanwhile, Udhay is also extremely happy as his dad MK Stalin hugged him after the preview show and the whole family is super proud of him.

[MysteRy]

Manithan Review

Director: Ahmed
Cast: Udhay, Hansika, Prakash Raj, Radha Ravi, Vivek

Manithan is a feel-good satire, a remake of the Bollywood courtroom drama, Jolly LLB. The film throws light at our system and the sad state of affairs where witnesses go missing, evidence can be manipulated, people can be bought and the best lawyers in the business can be hired by the rich to help them get away scot-free while the poor struggle.

It tells the story of a small-time lawyer, Sakthi (Udhay), who dreams of becoming a star litigator. He moves from Pollachi to Chennai to chase his dream and win over his fiancée Priya (Hansika). But the naive guy gets embroiled in a high-profile hit-and-run case where he finds himself up against one of the country's biggest criminal lawyer Adhiseshan (Prakash Raj).

Director Ahmed (Vaamanan, Endrendrum Punnagai) has incorporated few changes to the original to add nativity. Other than a strong screenplay and sharp dialogues by Ajayan Bala, Madhie’s stellar cinematography too gives the grandeur to the film and Santhosh Naryanan’s music only elevates the emotions to a different level.

Manithan is easily Udhay's best so far, as the actor has given a subtle performance without any gimmicks or song 'n' dance routine. Hansika as Priya the righteous teacher who eggs Sakthi to fight for the truth has given a very good performance. As a simple girl from Pollachi, she scores in emotional scenes.  Vivek is ok while Prakash Raj is loud and overacts as lawyer Adhiseshan. Radha Ravi is in top form as the judge. Wonder why a talented Aishwarya Rajesh accepted the inconspicuous role of  a TV journalist?

On the downside the film is exhaustingly predictable and overstuffed with unnecessary songs. The way in which Sakthi unveils the case and comes across witnesses and evidence is just farcically easy.

On the whole, Manithan is watchable and works because it has heart. Make time for it this weekend.