Jan 03, 2012 10:25 PM
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I landed in New York and took an apartment in New jersey. Just to get used to the time difference, my buddy invited me to watch this movie in a theater (me and theater- are like kids and freak shows).
I pulled myself together despite all the tiredness and got into Big cinemas. And there it was, THALA Ajith's 50th movie Mangatha (a local Tamil term for blackjack (I guess) ).
The film starts rolling and there is a huge hefty SUV that jumps into the screen, A guy with salt and pepper hairdo, without mustache(not so surprising for south Indian heroes these days) gets out and the crowd(even in NJ) go crazy and start whistling and clapping.
That is Ajith Kumar for you, also known as king of biggest openings in Tamil cinema. This is Venkat Prabhu's 4th Movie( his last three were either super hits or hit), with music by his cousin bro Yuvan Shankar. The movie is about a heist to swindle 500 Crores of Betting money around the IPL finals.
The gang which plans the heist involves a gangster working for the Dada who is consolidating the betting money, a local Mumbai police officer, a bar owner and his IT geek friend (Premji in a funny role).
Ajith kumar is shown as a Mumbai inspector Vinayak Ram who has been suspended for killing a police officer while saving a goon working for the same Dada who is consolidating the money.
While Ajith has his own plan of swindling the betting money, he also gets in touch with the other gang through other means and finds out their plan to swindle the money.
They decide to share the spoils and draw a master plan. But wait, how can it be so simple. Enter Action king Arjun as the special officer appointed to eradicate the betting network and confiscate the money. Had enough already?
No wait, Ajith is in love with Trisha the consolidating Dada's daughter had enough and of course there are problems during the heist, after the heist with traitors within and outside the gang.
Pardon me if I have made the plot really interesting by throwing in all the above twists, but if you have watched other heist movies, you can pretty much make out how things proceed.
The Sleekness in our movies has become so hollywoodish and is boring most of the times. Of course, people who have read my previous reviews know how much I love songs and dances in movies :), this movie is no exception.
Off late I have also started noticing (am a late latif I guess) that our villains act for a crore when they are paid few hundreds. What is the need to overact/ react? Do real life goons behave so? Maybe it is just the movies, but that bit is getting unbearable as well.
Despite its predictability, mangatha works largely due to the Salt and Pepper haired, cruelly smiling Thala Ajith. I have not seen Ajith so really involved in a role after Vaali. His performance in Vaali was spontaneous, his portrayal of the Role in mangatha is the definition of spontaneity.
The way, he smiles, or his behaviour as a drunk and reactions while with Trisha or while greedily shouting Money, Money, Money were worth the entire duration of the movie. To put it short, the scenes without Ajith were a bit boring. Hats off to Ajith.
Venkat Prabhu has the knack of making a street smart movie with commercial elements and he had a huge task of managing an ensemble cast of which Ajith and Arjun are a part. He has done his part as the director with great elan.
Its sweet the way Ajith addressing Arjun and action king and arjun returning the Favour by calling him Thala were enjoyable. Of course, no one can extract humor from Premji like his brother does.
He is hilarious! Yuvans background music has helped the audience feel the pulse of the movie throughout. Though the title song "Vilayadu Mangaatha" seems a slower tempo salad of Dhan ta naaa from kaminey and many other tracks, it is enjoyable.
Overall, I did not regret having watched it on my first day in New jersey. Definitely a nice way to set my mind clock straight.
