Manmadan Ambu

With much reluctance, I agreed to go and watch this movie at the Inox theatre last week with my family. My spirits to watch a Kamala Hassan movie got dampened when I noticed that the hall  was half empty and felt justified when the show ended!  Here's Kamal, a retired Army Major who takes up a job of a detective for Madhavan, an industrialist who asks him to trail Trisha who is a film actor and engaged to Madhavan.  Knowing pretty well that Trisha is an actor and has to act in close quarters with all her heroes cast opposite to her,  Madhavan and his mother creates ruckus forcing her to take off from her schedule to be with her friend Sangeetha in Paris.  In the meantime, the character of Madhavan undergoes a change as he takes to drinking. The way of speaking also changes as he spits venom on Trisha imagining her to be in love with her co-star!  K S Ravikumar, the director has not grown up from his younger days and cherishes the olden themes which are no longer relevant in  modern times.  Kamal, the retired Major is on a spying trail of Trisha and in the bargain takes us around France, Italy and Spain for no reason.  Kamal has tried to emulate the style and script of "Crazy Mohan" but has failed to live up to the original creating unnecessary confusion of personalities and the surroundings.  The little boy of Sangeetha is an eye sore to the entire movie as he talks and behaves a bit too much for his character and size.  There is no music despite the fact that Devi Sri Prasad appears in the title as the music director.  Kamal has the habit of overpowering the music directors to sing for himself and i the bargain, you hear an old haggard voice trying to sing in tune!  I could see many people walking out of the show in the middle due to absolute boredom but I cling ed to the seat since it provided a nice cushioned seating for relaxing.  Kamal still has appetite for acting as Hero when in reality his face and structure looks old and older for an actor like Trisha! He also romances a white girl in the film who looks stunning and even better than Trisha but unfortunately dies in an accident to pave way and scope for Kamal to romance Trisha, all over again?   The Major who does all this just to fund the cancer treatment of his ailing friend in Ramesh Arvind has in the process made sure that Ramesh Arvind, who is otherwise a good actor is totally out of the film industry!  The role which Ramesh Arvind has doned does not speak well about his future to sustain in the industry.  Cleverly at the end, Kamal keeps Trisha for himself and pairs Madhavan with Sangeetha who is a divorcee with 2 ready made kids who have outgrown their size!  It will be worthwhile for   Madhavan and Ramesh Arvind  not to appear in Kamal's films as they don't add up to the  value and on the contrary, it only diminishes.  K S Ravikumar must go for a directorial course in Hollywood just to replenish his thoughts which are old and stale. The only directorial appreciation in the whole movie is when Kamal explains his life to Trisha when things roll back in the reverse mode.  Udayanidhi Stalin must have taken up this project as a sequel and challenge to check mate his relatives in Sun Pictures who made Robot with Rajini and Shankar but must be feeling sorry about the outcome of this movie.  Rajini has certainly grown in size, stature and image whereas Kamal is where he was 20 years back!  If you are looking for some nice airconditioned relaxation, I would recommend this movie any day!!