Mani 's Iruvar. Review on Iruvar Movie

Marudur Gopalamenon Ramachandran ,better known as MGR greatly influenced the Tamil Film Industry in 1960s and 1970s when he became a popular hero and TN politics in 1980s when he became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu(TN). His story is a typical rags-to-riches story with lots of ups and downs which must have inspired Manirathnam to make a movie out of it.But then, did he do a good job in this movie? Let us see….

Iruvar is based on the life of MGR and it focuses on the friendship between MGR(played by Mohanlal) and Karunanidhi(played by PrakashRaj) also. .Anandan(Mohanlal) is an ambitious young actor who wants to make it big in the film industry. He had to face a lot of failures and insults though before getting the much needed breakthrough. He happens to meet Selvam (PrakashRaj) who is a writer.It so happens that Selvam is the dialogue writer for the film in which Anandan is the hero.They become close friends.Selvam who has close affiliations with a political party introduces him to the leader of the party(played by Nasser) .He is very much impressed with young Anandan and encourages him to participate in the party activities.Slowly but steadily, Anandan makes good progress and he becomes a much sought-after hero..He becomes very famous with the people of TN because of his philanthrophic attitude and charisma. Selvam ,who becomes the Chief Minister ,after the death of Nasser ,realizes that Anandan is becoming very popular and in an attempt to show his power,throws him out of his party ..Anandan later forms his own party ,competes with Selvam and later wins the elections.The film ends with the huge death procession that is being held after the death of Anandan. Selvam also recollects the good old days where in they were very good friends..

This film can be viewed as a sequence of events in the life of a great actor cum politician. But then,full credit goes to Manirathnam for piecing it together. But then,if the film has to be a success,you need the commercial elements..Manirathnam has mixed the commercial elements very well with the film.It has very good songs composed by A R Rahman. Most of the roles are played by actors who are commercially viable.Revathi plays Selvam’s first wife .Tabu plays the other woman in Selvam’s life.Aishwarya Rai has a double –role in this film. She acts as Anandan’s (i.e MGR) first wife and a famous actress who later becomes obsessed with Anandan.The latter role very much resembles Jayalalitha Jayaram ,the current CM of TamilNadu .Aish was excellent in this role.

Mohanlal was amazing as Anandan.It was actually a very tough role.First,he has to show the emotions of a struggling actor.Then he has to make the transition from a naive,young actor to a shrewd politician .The role of Selvam (PrakashRaj) is equally complex. His emotions are subtle but strong.He plays a major role in shaping Anandan to be a shrewd politician.But when he becomes very famous with people,jealousy and envy possesses him.Prakashraj has to show a gamut of emotion through this character and he has done a great job. He deserved the Best Supporting Actor award (National)

Santhosh Sivan(Camera) has done an excellent job in this film.The visuals very much resembles Tamil Nadu in its 60s and 70s.Full credit goes to Sameer Chanda(Art Director) .The role of A R Rahman is very much important in this film.He has to give the 70s type of music .Two songs (“Hello Mr EthirKatchi” and “Vennila”) are jazz-based.”Kannai Katti Kollathe” and “Ayirathil Naan Oruvan” are typical MGR songs .

It is interesting to note that Jayalalitha commented that Mani had made a hash of Iruvar.The film also lacks commercial appeal even though Mani had added all the commercial elements that might be needed. The people rejected this film and it seems it ran in Madurai only for 2 days! Before analyzing why the film failed in the box office,let us talk about the negative points in the film .Even though Mani had done very good research and he was able to create the period-feel in his film, the problem is there are too many characters in the film for us to keep track of. Each of its characters are played by famous actor/actresses which serves only as a distraction to the viewers. One has to accept that it is very difficult to direct a biography-type film.But then, Mani should have made the film more simple for it to be accepted well by the masses. Unless you know the story of MGR and Karunanidhi,it is very difficult to appreciate the finer aspects of the film.Usually,Mani's films are dubbed or remade in Hindi.This film is an exception because the subject is very specific to the people of Tamil Nadu and people from other states might find it a bit difficult to identify with the situations presented in the film.

The film is also dragging in a few places …and sometimes it is boring for the viewers .I don’t think we can blame Mani for this but then the nature of the subject (life of MGR) is like that . But ,why did this film become a big failure? Even though it is a very good film, there are many things which just cant be “accepted” by the people of TN. It affects the sentiments of fans of both MGR and Karunanidhi (Selvam has 2 wives in this film. Anandan is married twice and he flirts with the “famous actress” also). They might have found it difficult to accept it even though it might be true.As mentioned earlier,it also lacks the commercial appeal. .If he wanted ,Mani could have changed this story into a typical “rags to riches “ story with masala elements throughout the film.But then,he chose to make it as realistic as possible .So,that is why, even though it is a commercial failure,Mani considers this movie as his best film to date (He mentioned this in a recent interview).

Check it out if you haven’t seen already.You wouldn’t be disappointed for sure!