-Sandeep Santosh
There is nothing new in the film other than seeing Prabhu Deva in the role of an IPS officer. The film is a dust-up of clichs found in various police stories. It’s almost like a trailer. However, due to the hype surrounding the film by the cast, there was little hope for the audience.
The film manages to entertain as well as inform, though it has great crime, mutton suspense and twists. Prabhu Deva wondered for a moment why he had chosen this film to increase his number of films to 50. The actor is reeling from not being able to choose the best films. The film cannot be dismissed out of hand as there is nothing new in the story. Prabhu Deva has been able to perform through dance or without disappointing the fans. Fans of the actor’s dance do not need to see the film for that.
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The film opens with the death of a judge. As there was no rust in the case, the media and the public began to question the efficiency of the police. When ordinary policemen could not prove the case, the commissioner himself suggested a name – Pon Manikyavel. The assassination took place even before the Deputy Commissioner, Pon Manikyavel, was fully involved in the case. That too is not ordinary murder, it is done after threatening to kill. A police officer was killed after the judge. Manikyavel then realized that the third lot fell on a business tycoon and offered him security with special consideration and kept his word. The film explores who committed the murders, its causes, Manichaeus’ investigative style, and elements of action-romance.
The protagonist melts at the sight of tears and tries to execute justice, the protagonist prepares to leave his beloved job, the crimes committed by the force of money, the criminals escaping from the law by influence, the flashbacks that show revenge and the causes, the issue of female security, the psycho villain and so on. The story and screenplay failed to impress the audience as it had already been seen in other films. The screenplay written by the director did not have the power to captivate the audience.
With the aim of fattening things up, the director has scraped all the numbers used in films of similar genres and looked at the pie in this film. None of the songs, including the item number, were particularly good for the film. Though not properly added, the image has reached the point where it can be seen due to the strength of the spices and the presence of Prabhu Deva.
The highlight of the film is seeing Prabhu Deva in full action packed form. Though unrelated to the story, the chemistry between the Prabhu Deva-Nivetha duo has helped keep the audience from getting bored. Mahendran, Sudhanshu Pandey and Suresh Menon also performed their roles flawlessly. The different role of Prabhakaran who played Kalakeyan in Bahubali was attractive. But like the other characters, this character is affected by the shallowness of the cast.
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The action scenes prepared by Anpariv are in the path of typical Tamil films. The film does not do justice to the label of action beyond the average experience. The audience did not get any such benefits as the track of the film was not stretched even in areas like Investigation – Thriller.
The background music composed by D Imman was in keeping with the character of the film. The songs, including ‘Uthira Uthira’, were pleasant to listen to, but were not needed in the film, or used in a way that was adaptable to the film.
The footage captured by KG Venkatesh is a perfect fit for such an action film, with an average quality photographer. There are some loopholes in the editing, including not feeling a flow in adding scenes.
Prabhu Deva’s portrayal of a police officer fills the screen with heroism on many occasions, questioning whether he should work for the people or for the government, but even after the film, the protagonist has not reached the point where it remains in the minds of the audience.
The overall problems in the making did not allow the film to rise. Though it was a disappointment to the audience for the film, which was supposed to be a milestone as Prabhu Deva’s 50th film, ‘Pon Manikyavel’ is a film worth seeing once.