Manithan Movie Review

manithanThere is something about movies that take up the cause of a common man where you root for the protagonist who fights for us. It could be a mindless commercial masala or a movie that has its focus on a message said in a straightforward way. “Jolly LLB” was a successful Hindi movie that had a message in it but delivered in a humorous way with some brilliant performance from the lead cast. “Manithan” is almost a faithful remake but lacks the soul of the original. The director “Ahmed” jazzes it up with higher production value and a misfit cast. Udaynidhi for no fault of his fails to fit the character that Arshad Warsi essayed memorably in the original. Deglammed Hansika is so so and Prakash Raj waltzes through his role effortlessly as he has in umpteen movies.

The story is plain and simple. There are hardly any twists or cerebral brilliance that you would expect in a courtroom drama. But the original had a screenplay with some fine performance from the lead actors that carried through a simple story. But in “Manithan” the writing is so poor that the screenplay looks jaded and dialogues so clichéd. Add Vivek and his vivekisms and there is not even forced laughter. The script is let down by mediocre dialogues and faulty direction. Ahmed who is known for his flashy presentations finds himself at odds with this script and it clearly shows in the scenes. There are many scenes that have no purpose and conveyed so ineffectively. Lastly but not the least “Jolly LLB” had the impeccable performance of Saurabh Shukla as the judge. Radha ravi as the judge tries his best but pales in comparison.

Sontosh Narayan attempts to salvage some scenes with his background score. There are many places where you feel a good score is wasted. The songs are decent, though a couple of them could have been avoided to help reduce the length of the movie. Cinematography is standard while the editing is shoddy.

“Manithan” on the whole is a poor version of the original. Go the nearest video store and get a copy of “Jolly LLB”, if for nothing, for the performances. Esp. Saurabh Shukla.

“MANITHAN” – “ SARASARI”

By Shreesha B.U

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