#9YrsOfBenchmarkMANKATHA

MANKATHA was Thala Ajith’s 50th Movie. The Milestone curse is a common Phenomenon that Kollywood heroes are usually bound to face in their respective milestone movies (25th, 50th, 75th and 100th etc.). Only a handpicked few have falsified this curse.

Ajith was one of those hand-picked few to break the curse with Amarkalam (Ajith’s 25th Film) his first Milestone film and his luck charms worked for his 50th Film as well.

Vinayak Mahadev is still credited as one of the Meanest Villains in Tamil Cinema History.

If a list were to be made at any point of time in Kollywood, Ten buck says Vinayak is sure to be on that List. The Man delivered an Effortless mean Swagger which is still attributed as one of his best performances as an antagonist after Vaali.

In every Tamil movie in the past

where the Protagonist is a baddie there would be a detailed flashback segment , where the dark past and circumstances turn the otherwise poster boy into a misanthropic A-hole. This movie surprisingly had no such backstory.

No Cliched Back-story for the Antagonist

When it was announced that Thala would refrain from Dying his hair in the movie, even a few of his loyal Fans were doubtful. The Star also announced that going forward he would only play roles that suit his age and would be proud to display his silver mane which he claimed to be

proof of the hardships and struggles he faced in the industry. When the Movie released the most talked about and trending factors of the movie was the Salt N Pepper style which even made many men who were once colouring their hair to sport their grey hair with pride.

Though its an Antagonist Role There is No road he doesn’t dare to walk for it May it be faking a romantic relationship with a Girl to befriend her Dad whom he later kicks out mercilessly from a running car, while the Girl watches.

If any other actor had been handed over a script like this the director would have been fired right away. Instead Ajith proves he has the guts to choose a script like this despite it being his 50th Movie.

No moral code

Most Mass heroes in this time period would choose a script solely based on Hero-Worship or in other words a script that’s just about him only. This movie had Arjun Sharja playing Inspector Prithvi (Earlier to be played by Nagarjuna) the Good Cop who locks horns with Vinayak.

Mankatha also had a few of Vp gang of guys. Vp himself said that Ajith was very generous enough to share mass dialogues with the guys and would constantly enquire him and advised him to make sure if Arjun and other character were given equal screen space. Perfect Gentleman indeed

This was a line from the Popular “Vilayadu Mankatha” track from the movie. Staying true to the lyrics, as mentioned earlier Cigarettes and Alcohol was Vinayak’s Equivalent of Bread and Butter in the Movie.

To my Knowledge this movie had the highest number of smoking scenes by a leading hero in a Tamil movie.

Despite all these facts which could have gone the other way for the movie, The Movie is attributed as one of Ajith’s Best Movie in his career. The Credits Goes to the Director for the way he handled the Script, the Awesome BGM work by the true Rockstar Yuvan

The Loyal Fan Base that would support the star to death and ultimately the Ultimate Star’s Out of the box Performance.

The Movie also has The Actor showcasing his well know Automobile driving skills. May it be the Donuts or the 360 turns with the car or the Wheelie and Stoppie with the Black Yamaha YZF-R3 , All of which were truly applause worthy. Truly his F-ing Game for sure.

A Few Stars even said that it would take years for them to get the guts and maturity to do a role like this. Whereas it inspired a few actors who were looking for a break to foray into Antagonism to give them an edge.

The Cuss word count in this movie made Venkat Prabhu an equal competitor for Thiagarajan Kumaraja, for the number of expletives used throughout the movie. The overdose of cuss words led to many believing that it could be a big let-down for the movie.

Instead it made the fans go Gaga in every scene an expletive is used ,Since the Fans were able to read between the lips of the actor’s inspite of the Censor Beep. Instead of giving negative effect it gave a grunge and realistic portrayal of the antagonist’s character in the movie

The Movie’s Climax was the most immoral or unethical climaxes in history of Tamil Cinema where by general convention Good Triumphs over the Bad at any cost. In this movie the Protagonist is the Antagonist and the presumed Protagonist is in cohorts with the Antagonist.

This was a Climax that could have been criticized badly (While a few people still do). But the climax also did what it intended to do mostly not to face the Bad side of Ajith’s Loyal Fan base. The Climax Twist is by far one of unexpected Twists in kollywood movie history.

Even After 9 years of its release this movie is still one of the very few extremely unconventional movies which became a Commercial Blockbusters .Since ‘unconventional movie’ is the tagline given to movies which go on to win National Awards and Film Festival Awards.

There are also many of my friends who became ardent ‘Thala’ Fans after Mankatha.

In Conclusion Just 5 words to Say

Bravo ! Bravo ! Bravo ! Bravo ! Bravo!