‘Manadu’ movie review: Simbu and SJ Surya see each other in this cleverly written film

In Manadu, the first plot point arrives at the half-hour mark. It happens: Amidst a sea of ​​party workers, a civilian takes a gun from his shoulder bag and pulls the trigger aimed at the chief minister of the state. He kills the CM in a single shot from a distance of at least 100 meters from the stage.

Let’s assume that the civilian is a reluctant participant and all this is done with meticulous accuracy by a third party of superior force. Even if we go by that logic, the chances of killing the Chief Minister in the first shot are one in a hundredth scenario, given that he is just a normal person who has flesh and bone. In another film this prospect would have been alarming and perhaps even absurd. but in Manadu, the absurdity of events NS fun; You derive pleasure from the disappointment of being trapped in the time-loop of protagonist Abdul Khaliq (Silmberson), where events spin and the characters talk in circles. And the chewable bit for the audience is the lively experience of sitting through the scenes over and over again; Kind of a fun round but operated by someone who knows the machine inside and out.

It is not appropriate to call events in Manadu Useless. These are cleverly written and wonderfully put together by editor Praveen KL; This is as much a writer’s film as an editor’s. But to reach the main ‘plot’, you have to cross the bridge of fan service, which gets an updated treatment here too. For example, the film contains mandan At a certain point, perhaps, to massage fans of the late – but, at the same time, there seems to be an acceptance of the political inaccuracy of the film in the scene where Sitalakshmi (Kalyani Priyadarshan) is seen as a creepy stalker on Khaleque. There is doubt. There is also a rough joke but on Simbu himself. This begs us to ask: is Simbu ready to correct the many mistakes of the past? It’s hard to say. But it is definitely a good move.

Abdul Khaliq finds himself in an infinite loop of time where if he dies, he wakes up and the sequence repeats itself. Thinking source code, On paper, Venkat Prabhu had two issues a) how do you break down the complexity of the screenplay into a language understood by the ‘mass’ audience and b) how differently each component of the screenplay should be designed to avoid the familiar. If you’re going to present a high-concept film without any compromises, the traditional audience is going to reject it. So, how do you give them a sweet pill? Venkat Prabhu, who tries to play within the traditions of the genre, like he did Mass Angira Masilamani Whom I am a fan of, do something wonderful.

He takes a mainstream Hollywood trope and converts it into a Spice film, making the final product look refined. Full disclosure: I adore filmmakers who aren’t apologetic for liking Spice Cinema. part of the reason why Manadu thrilling because, in short, it’s good Spice Which is hidden behind the mask of the time-loop.

this is Spice Because usually, in a movie that features the concept of sabotaging or reversing time, it’s usually the protagonist who has to win over and find an exit statement. But here, Venkat Prabhu adds one more layer to the loop and we get a . Get catch Me If You Can A kind of cat and mouse game between Simbu and SJ Surya (the film exploits his top-notch performance for its own good). The sun is called Dhanushkodi… It doesn’t seem like a happy coincidence. The first half ends with a bang – literally – and I found myself already reading a news report about a possible Bollywood remake.

three fourth Manadu Built around a political program involving the Chief Minister (SA Chandrashekhar). The film may not openly claim to be political, but it does not refuse to take a stand either. If you dig deeper into its surface, it is about Islamophobia. Some (real) incidents are mentioned to make a statement about today’s communal politics.

But it suffers from the trouble of taking WhatsApp seriously when Sitalakshmi tries to give Khaleq and the audience commendable Explanation of time-loop as a concept. This is as much a sham as Christopher Nolan fans are claiming interstellar For being a stellar work of science and imagination. We also get the story about Khaliq’s mother, who was rescued by a Hindu family during communal riots just after the Babri Masjid demolition. It is as ‘safe’ as Venkat Prabhu’s short film about Hindu-Muslim riots.

Manadu Hopefully, the latest addition to the long list of films is where the idea of ​​’Hero’ is changing for the better. Consider this: a Tamil cinema star Never dies. This is also a given section in our masala cinema manual. But here, we have a star in Simbu who finds himself ready to die for the greater good many times and in many forms. Exciting times ahead?