Director: K.S. Ravikumar
Regardless of the success/failure of his films, Kamal has always been raved for his efforts. Adversely it’s a double edged knife in that; it puts the spot light on the (sub) consciously narcissistic attitude of his. I need not say anything more than the term ‘dasavatharam’ in this context. In his latest offering though there is some respite in this regard.
After going through what seems to be the prologue for the movie Man Madhan Ambu, as we get acquainted with all the characters, there comes a sequence, where a malyali producer couple tries to evade the dreamy eyes of Ambu (Trisha). The Universal Hero who till then only had a calculated ‘fan patronizing’ introductory, silently creeps into the frame to form a picture perfect scene where each character is let free to behave on their own. This subtle setup speaks volumes about the command of writer Kamal over the star. With the stage being set, what could have been a straight forward tale of intercepting lives, sadly ends up as a cacophony of mismatched tales which as it reaches the crescendo becomes the mother of all priyadarshan’s disaster comedies(?!).
The issue is not about trying too many things or touching upon many a topic. It’s about how you coherently interlace your ideas with the life-thread. In one crucial scene, upon asking what happened to him after a tragic incident in his past, Mannar (Kamal) breaks down to reveal that, no one has asked that till now. Yet, as he starts to recite his tale, we get to see only a scene by scene (in reverse order though) narration of the incident. Though it does ties up few knots that were left intentionally hanging earlier in the movie, it doesn’t become anything more than a gimmick.
Had Kamal been clear that he only wanted to tell a simple tale of tit-for-tat, he could have ended the first half with the beautifully written scene where Mannar is left stranded in the streets hopelessly, with the later half dealing with the confusions as a consequence of his retaliation. But Kamal being Kamal, sets for an uncharted voyage hoping to widen the canvas only to venture into stereotypes, from which he initially tried to escape. Wish he had taken a cue from the (comical/irritating) debate between Mannar & Deepa (Sangeetha) over the motive of each character they have created & tweaked the script.
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