Cast: Vimal, Lakshmi Menon, Rajkiran, Anu Anand, Ashvin Raja
Banner: Thirupathi Brothers
Direction: Naveen Raghavan
Production: N. Subash Chandrabose, A. Sargunam, Nandha Kumar
Music: M Ghibran
Storyline:
Debutante director Naveen Raghavan’s ‘Manjapai‘ shows what is true affection and the difference between the live styles of city and village.
Tamizh (Vimal) lost his parents during his childhood. He was brought up by his Grandfather Venkatasamy (Rajkiran). Tamizh studies well and gets in to IT industry in Chennai. He lives alone in his apartment.
He meets medical student Karthika (Lakshmi Menon) on road and falls for her instantly. Though she is not showing any interest towards him he successfully persuades her to reciprocate his love.
Thamizh gets a chance to go to US and settle there. The coveted offer depends on a project given to him. He takes up the challenge and work meticulously. Since he is likely to go to US within three months he wants to bring his grandpa to his house and live with him for some time.
The grandpa, a typical village man, comes to the city. His encounters with the city and its culture create many funny and touching incidents.
The affectionate and innocent old man goes around and creates many ripples in the lives of the persons he comes across. Each and every incident has the stamp of his innocence, affection, and courage. Some get irritated and some get touched by his affectionate ad raw way of doing things.
Unfortunately the innocent grandpa unintentionally creates many problems to Tamizh, who is not willing to condemn his grandpa. The troubles continue but Thamizh is least bothered. But grandpa’s overtures go to the extent of making him loose the onsite offer and creating strains in his relationship with Karthika.
At a point Thamizh loses his patience and shouts at his grandpa. The old man realizes his mistakes and tries to make amends. Things take a bizarre turn when a child eats poisoned food and the blame falls on him.
The climax tells us what happened to grandpa and his relationship with Thamizh.
Script analysis
Director Naveen Raghavan has honestly attempted to depict the basic difference between city and rural culture. He firmly stands on grandpa’s side and makes a sharp comment on the way people are living in a cosmopolitan city.
The way the village old man encounters the city has been depicted with lot of fun. Some of the scenes are quite touching (ex: helping the orphanage and the pregnant girl etc). The bondage between Thamizh and his grandfather has been beautifully portrayed.
The director has made some strong point in favour of family values and bondage by showing the hero compromising everything and losing anything for the sake of his grandpa.
The scenes emphatic but it is hard to digest why Thamizh never tries to make his grandpa understand the dynamics of the city. He could have understood that his grandpa would be misfit in the city and that he would cause some unnecessary troubles to everyone.
Any youngster who is affectionate with his previous generation would try to help them to come to terms with the reality. Thamizh never does it. This aspect of the film is very weak and unconvincing. The movie could have been more effective if the director paid attention to this aspect. The city Vs village aspect has been handled in a stereotypical manner.
The romance angle could have been lot better. The US embassy sequence looks as a silly episode.
The stereotype scenes however, provides for interesting viewing as they have been dealt with some fun.
Performances:
The movie revolves around Rajkiran and the man does full justice to the role. He handles the role that offers much scope to perform well. He stands out with his outstanding performance.
Vimal manages to make his presence felt in a script that gives more important to another character.
Gibran’s music is competent. A couple of songs create deep impact.
Masani’s camera work is just about okay.
Positive points
Fun filled and touchy narrative
Performance by Rajkiran
Music
Negative points
Stereotype portrayal of village and city
Lack of credibility in the developments
Predictable final portions
Verdict:
‘Manjapai’ is a symbol of village and its inherent innocence. The movie with this title does work despite some flaws as it has interesting narrative.
Manjapai: manages to entertain.
