Mankatha Story:
The film opens with police officer Vinayak Mahadevan (Ajith) who gets suspended for helping a smuggler Faizal (Aravind Akash) to escape from police encounter. After getting suspended he starts leading life in his own way.
A serious issue regarding bookies and match fixing evokes Maharashtra police and makes them stand on toes. Meanwhile Vinayak falls for Sanjana (Trisha), daughter of a powerful local gangster Mahadev (Jayaprakash) in Mumbai. Mahadev who is powerful in Mumbai plans to steal 500 crores, which was used for gambling during Indian Premier League. He appoints a gang of four men Sumanth (Vaibhav), Prem (Premji), an IIT graduate, Mahat (Mahat Raghavendra), Ganesh (Ashwin Kakumanu), a sub-inspector at Dharavi in Mumbai to steal this money. On knowing the plan made by Mahadev, Vinayak get into this project and starts leading the gang.
On other side, Prithviraj (Arjun) CID officer who handles this case chases Vinayak and his mission. From here the rift between both Vinayak & gang and Police takes place.
Will Vinayak and his gang succeed in their mission? Who will finally get the 500crs? How they execute the plot? Will Ajith get his lady love Sanjana? Will he join back as a police officer? All this is shown in very interesting manner with loads of twists in every frame in the second part of the movie.
Performances:
Ajith gave his best out of best performance in the film. His fans could not have expected for more from their star. His acting, salt and pepper look with the negative shade in his role are treat to watch out. The audiences will thoroughly enjoy the action sequences and hair rising car and bike stunts done by him. One can’t stop praising his performance!
Arjun has fulfilled his title Action King yet again with Mankatha. He is brilliant and Venkat Prabhu’s choice should be appreciated fro roping in Arjun. He has perfectly fitted the bill. In fact he got a gets a meaty role much equivalent to Ajith and is over the top with his performance.
Trisha though being the leading lady doesn’t have much scope for performance. But whatever she can do for Sanjana’s character, she has done it pretty well. She looked beautiful and pretty charming.
Lakshmi Rai has appeared in just more than 5 scenes while Anjali played Vaibhav’s partner and Andrea played Arjun’s wife, both of them are just used for romantic portions.
Premji Amaran scores well with his Black Humour but he repeated the same what he did in Goa and Chennai 28. Vaibhav got a meaty role and he utilized it to the surpassing degrees. Mahat, Ashwin and Ganesh are okay with performances.
As usual Jayaprakash has given his best in the supporting role. Rest of the characters has done their job well on their limits.
Technicalities:
To convey straightly Venkat Prabhu has succeed in his first ever film with a big star. It looks like Venkat Prabhu being a fan of Thala has understood the pulse of the audience and his fans well. He has undoubtedly given perfect entertainer, where Ajith rules the game of action but the overdose of action scenes played a spoilsport. Shakti Saravanan's photography is brilliant, choreography is simple but energetic. Editor Praveen KL could have been bold in his work, as few scenes are dragging at parts and gives feel of boredom. Yuvan’s Music is apt as the songs are at its best with ‘Machi Open the Bottle’ turning to be the cherry pick of the album and so is title song ‘Vilayaadu Mankatha’.
Analysis:
Mankatha has all the entertaining elements like Mystery & Suspense, Drama, Action and Adventure. The film is especially for Thala fans and the people who love action-oriented movies but family audiences who like to have a whole new experience from regular stuff can give their try on Mankatha. The first half of the film has passed away with just establishments of the characters and was on a slow pace while the second half is just a roller coaster ride with lots of twists and turns.
The positive points of the film are Thala’s performance, BGM by Yuvan, Camera work, Dance - simple but energetic choreography and the scenes between Thala & action King, especially the climax scene. On the negative side we find lengthy action sequences, misplacement of songs, dragging first half and too much of characters. However, Ajith mouthing dialogues like 'I am a mad man' and 'money money money' during stunts are will be enjoyed by his fans big time.
Note: Don’t miss the behind the scenes bloopers during final credit that will throw huge surprise for all you fans!!!
Quick Take: High voltage action entertainer for Thala Fans!
