Manja Pai Movie Review
Review Overview
Screenplay
Performances
Technical Aspects & BGM
Raj Kiran, the saving grace!
Raj Kiran's superlative performance is the only saving grace in the film which is otherwise drab, unstimulating and replete with cliches.
Cast : Vimal, Lakshmi Menon, Rajkiran & Others.
Cinematography : Masani
Music : NR Raghunanthan
Editing : Deva
Written & Directed by : N Ragavan
Produced by N. Subash Chandrabose, Sargunam, Nandha Kumar
Banner : Thirrupathi Brothers & Sargunam Cinemaz
Release Date : 06-06-2014
Run Time : 02:10:00
Naviin Ragavan has trodden the most traversed path in his debut film Manja Pai. He has taken three central characters for the film and developed the plot around them. But, the way in which he has penned the screenplay and the manner in which it unfolds on screen looks quite uninspiring and at times overblown.
Manja Pai revolves around Vimal who is settled in Chennai with a lucrative IT job and lives in a posh apartment and Raj Kiran, who arrives to Chennai but grappling with the draconian, evil residents of the city and a lanky Lakshmi Menon in a totally miscast role as an ophthalmologist.
Summing up what Naviin Raghavan tries to accomplish in the film: “To make the denizens of Chennai understand that people who come from hinterlands (in this case, it is Pandayampatti) are simple-minded, large-hearted, honest, patriotic citizens unlike their counterparts who are mostly stone-hearted, malevolent, spiteful and unsympathetic.”
Or at least, that’s(aforementioned quote) the road director has taken to depict an otherwise beautiful thatha-peran relationship.
The moviegoers surely deserve something better. Cliches galore in the first fifteen minutes of the film, where the writing is poor and abounds with platitudes. The plot deals about the emotional bond shared between Raj Kiran and Vimal, but most of the scenes are manipulative and mere contrivances.
Raj Kiran’s performance is superlative and he manages to bring the roof down in regular intervals in the first half. His effortless acting moves you in a scene or two and leaves you in splits too, especially the Aiyo Aiyo Thatha song is a laugh riot. But, the thespian’s performance is let down by a lifeless writing.
The stereotyping of urbanites continues as if we already don’t have a spate of films waiting to do that. The climax is one of the most unscrupulous third-acts ever since Vijay Sethupathy starrer Rummy, where the filmmaker forced us to leave the halls with a heavy heart.
Raghunandhan’s background score, though occasionally jarring, works reasonably well. Overall, Manja Pai is drab, unstimulating and replete with cliches. It thrives on a singular performance from Raj Kiran who is the only saving grace in the film.