Looking at the last movies of Dhanush and Simbhu, one cannot avoid the feeling that their
situations have been reversed. With Kaadhal Konden , Dhanush
started strongly in a role that gave him scope for emoting. Simbhu, on the other hand, relied
on heroic roles replete with punchlines, stylish gimmicks and unbelievable stunts right from
his first movie. But in Sullaan , Dhanush took on the mantle of the
action superhero, with all the associated flashiness while with Manmadhan, Simbhu
takes on a strong role with a lot of scope, apart from dabbling in a genre with not many entries.
In doing so, he reveals some hitherto unseen acting talent in an slick, entertaining thriller.
Madan(Simbhu) works as an auditor and also attends Music College. At the college, he meets
Mythili(Jyothika), who gradually warms to him. But Madan has an alter-ego Manmadhan, a serial
killer who kidnaps and kills girls. When Mythili learns that a girl, who she saw with Madan,
is missing and suspected of being the victim of Manmadhan, she informs the police that Madan
is indeed Manmadhan.
A well-made thriller typically has no problems capturing our interest and Manmadhan
definitely falls into this category. The initial episodes where Manmadhan manipulates
the women pique our interest with the opening sequence with Mandira Bedi
providing an excellent start that grabs us. Pacing is good as each episode reveals a
little more about what exactly happens to the women and the scene before the intermission,
which shows us how Simbhu disposes the bodies, is suitably creepy. Being a hero, simbhu
does have a reason for all the murders, but the reason, when it is revealed, doesn't seem to
apply to all the women he is shown as murdering. Also, it is quite unbelievable that he is
able to snatch women so easily from public places like a club, train, etc. and get away with
it so successfully.
Manmadhan falls into the category of the romantic thriller since equal weightage
is provided to the romance too. But it is not quite as successful as the thriller portions
in maintaining our interest and the scenes between Simbhu and Jyothika accomplish little
more than dragging down the pace of the movie. The track has a ridiculous start with
Jyothika dreaming of Simbhu molesting her and then running into him in real life. Though
it does recover, it never rises above a regular love story that fills in the spots between
high points in a thriller.
As expected, the flashback provides a tragic background for Simbhu's avatar as the
serial killer. The story itself is by-the-numbers and is quite predictable and the episode
more notable for Simbhu's performance than for anything else. The movie also manages to
end on an unexpected note.
Simbhu throws himself wholeheartedly into the role and the result is a revelation of acting
talents that have not been seen in his earlier roles. From his sob story to Mandira Bedi in
the first scene, he has us firmly in his grip. His persona in the flashback is the complete
opposite of the characters he has played so far and to his credit, he is completely
believable. Jyothika looks a little old in a few scenes but retains her usual charm in her
performance. Her dance for En Aasai Mythiliye... is uninhibited and fun. Atul
Kulkarni is wasted in the role of an eventually ineffective police officer while Sindu
Dulani is adequate. Manmadhane... is a catchy number but its Kaadhal Valarthen...
that is memorable because of its tune, situation and picturization.
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