Thalai makes a headstart

Tamil actor Ajith is shooting his 50th film Mankatha in hotspots across the world

R S Prakash
Posted On Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 10:57:46 PM

The celebrations have already begun for Ajith’s 50th film.

Titled Mankatha, the cast and crew are currently in Bangkok for what they describe as a landmark movie for Thalai, as he is fondly called — and particularly his fans. Joining the party is Telugu actor Nagarjuna, who is said to be playing a key role in the flick.

Blame it on numerological concerns, Mankatha was earlier titled Mangatha. After having overcome some of those initial problems, director Venkat Prabhu and crew are all excited about the film.

Says the ace director, “I admit there were some problems initially, but all is well now and the schedules have started rolling in the right sequence and in the right direction. We as a team are very certain that the film in its final form will wow the audience and the added attraction will be the fact that this is our Thalai’s 50th outing!”

For Venkat, this is a different experience as he has earlier worked with relatively less-known actors and new-comers in films like Chennai- 6000028, Saroja and Goa. Besides roping in Ajith and Nagarjuna, the film also has Trisha, Manoj Manchu, Ganesh Venkataraman and new comer Mahaat.

So what is cooking? We asked Venkat, the son of director-cum-music-director Gangai Amaran.

“It is a commercial potboiler that is being made on the lines of an action adventure dealing with ‘strategic moves’ of a couple of people who would accept nothing less than a victory in a game of probability while destiny has a surprise in store for them, ” says Venkat, cheerfully.

Thankfully, Venkat has been given a complete go-ahead from his producer Dhayanidhi Azhagiri, the grandson of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi.

“I have told the director to go ahead and shoot the film exactly the way he conceived — regardless of the cost. All the top sequences will be canned abroad,” said Azhagiri.

Expectations have hit the sky for Thalai’s 50 movie, which will be shot around at least 10 top locations.

After Venkat’s film, Ajith will start shooting Billa 2, a sequel to Billa, one of his all-time hits. Link - http://www.bangaloremirror.com/artic...headstart.html

Ajith is like Rajini usually doesnt care abt his looks http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...n_rolleyes.gif eventhough his look is the USP
VP is the culprit http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo.../icon_evil.gif for not taking enough care onscreen.Eventhough grey hair looks cool for Ajith like George Clooney

MANKATHA MOVIE REVIEW

Starring: Ajith Kumar, Trisha, Arjun, Andrea Jeremiah, Lakshmi Rai, Premji, Anjali, Vaibhav
Direction: Venkat Prabhu
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production: Dayanidhi Azhagiri, (Cloud Nine Movies)


Mankatha after having played ‘uLLe veLiye’ for quite a while, strikes finally, AND in style! For his golden jubilee flick, Ajith, the ‘golden hearted’ lad of Tamil cinema teams up with the uber cool Venkat Prabhu and his gang of boys and the effect is exciting to say the least.

When you have the handsome Vinayak Mahadev (Ajith) team himself with a few boys on his ‘Money’ mission and when there is cop Prithviraj (Arjun) who is hot on their trail, what you get is a heady cocktail of events that suck you into the premise of Mankatha albeit a bit late.

For Venkat Prabhu, it is a huge responsibility to fuse in his irreverent style of film making with the sensibilities of Ajith’s image and the director has not compromised one bit here and kudos to him for this.

Mankatha unfolds languorously and takes its own sweet time to establish the premise when the major portion of the first half keep flitting in between many tracks with three romances. When you start wondering whether the movie is going anywhere at all, it shifts to third gear to be only brought down by a song or two. And when the director finally decides to cast everything else away and focus on the central plot, the story takes an interesting detour and mutates into a Grand Prix race all the way from the second half with Venkat Prabhu reserving all his aces for the climax.

There is always no dearth of humor in Venkat Prabhu’s films but in Mankatha it is a bit muted when compared to his other works. Mostly the comic lines are at the expense of Premji and the best example is his analogy with Youtube sensation Sam Anderson. Dialogues like - “Light pottutu daan otta koodadhu, lightaa pottutu ottalam” bring cheers. And the typical Venkat Prabhu’s conceptualization of humor in a serious situation still finds place but they are few.



The cat and the mouse game is exciting and the best part is you are never able to realize how many cats and mice are involved in the game. Even better is the fact that you cannot be quite sure of who is playing the double cross on whom and it is not until the final frame that you can put all the pieces together. Hats off to Venkat Prabhu for keeping the audience guessing all the way and scripting an absolute cracker of a climax! The chess board sequence just before the interval block is unique and intelligent.


The portions that looked unnecessary additions in the first half are all neatly explained in the context of things at the end, leaving no loose ends.


With an ensemble cast, there is every likelihood that at least a few would be relegated to the sidelines but all of them are there deservedly.


When we talk about performances, Ajith is unarguably the pièce de résistance of Mankatha and it is his uninhibited performance that captivates the audience. For him, it is a superb knock on the field well laid out by Venkat Prabhu. He simply sizzles in his action shots and his cute expressions in dance sequences are a revelation. The consistency in Ajith’s characterization is a major plus for the film. Next to Ajith, it is action king Arjun who has held on to his fort. Premji, Jaiprakash, Vaibhav, Mahat and Ashwin round out the supporting cast who blend in with ease with the story. As it is a men’s film, women have nothing to do in Mankatha.

On the downside, the number of gun battles and their lengths may tire you a bit and the vital heist which should have been extremely powerful lacks the fizz. Songs are not a value addition to the film at all and are mostly road blocks sans ‘Machi open the bottle’.

Success of a cinematographer and editor lies in their unobtrusive work in sync with the subject, and cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan and editors Praveen & Srikanth score in this department.

“Unakku ide maadiri 500 pondaati kedappa daa.” - with this dialogue, Ajith completes his mission of breaking all the syntax of a Tamil hero and has gone on to prove that an actor should strictly treat the script as the hero. Take a bow Ajith! It is a memorable 50th film indeed.

Verdict: Ajith's 'Golden' gamble with Venkat that has paid off !

__________________________________________________ ______________________
Braveheart Ajith and the fitting fifty!

At a time when movie buffs are being inebriated with the ecstasy of Ajith’s golden jubilee film Mankatha, one cannot but start thinking of the brave move of the handsome star for it needs real gumption to choose a role for his landmark film that defies all the templates that have been created hitherto in the Tamil (or may be Indian) film industry for heroes.

All along, whenever we had heroes doing an antagonist’s role, there were a few rules that were strictly adhered to. Primarily, the hero portraying the anti-hero material would surely have been affected with a serious psychological disorder, may be in younger years, which would be responsible for the indelible effect on his psyche and he would need help and attention to combat this aberration. A good example would be Kamal in Sigappu Rojakkal. A compelling reason for the non-valorous behavior indeed! But for this anomaly, the hero would be an epitome of all things good!


Secondly when the hero swindles money from the ‘have’s, it is only to distribute to the ‘have not’s for flooding them with healthcare, education and other humanely services to ensure that the hero is always immaculately blemish free because he is a HERO! And his Robinhood act is only to protect and save his fellow brethren in need. And till he breathes his last, his being is only for his compatriots. Gentleman Arjun is a perfect example whose actions need only eulogizing and nothing less than that!

Thirdly if the hero had to do all the antonym acts, then there would be an over build up of his character wherein he would be portrayed as a machismo who would rip apart all the baddies of the world with just a twitch in his biceps that would race to his knuckles in the blink of a well curled ‘mascara’ed eyelash and we have umpteen movies as testimony to this.
Quite refreshingly and much to the jubilance of filmphiles, none of the aforementioned features are not even remotely being expressed in the character of Vinayak Mahadev of Mankatha, scripted by Venkat Prabhu.

To put it simply, Vinayak Mahadev is someone who loves MONEY MONEY and MONEY. Nothing else! Nothing else can deter him in this pursuit, not even the gorgeous Trisha! The psyche of Vinayak Mahadev has not been landscaped into all things beautiful and virtuous and he stands before you in all his purity (!). This is a case of simple and straightforward portrayal, no distractions anywhere. This man wants money. And would do anything to get it. And we all know the world abounds in such characters and hence much relatable too!

Completely uncaring about something called image, Ajith unabashedly boozes, smokes, canoodles, lies to his lady love, sports a salt and pepper look with a slight paunch, mouths expletives with venom and he does all this sans a slightest iota of remorse because that is his way of life (on screen).

Ajith’s performance in Mankatha leads to a surmise that the potential of such an explosive actor had been royally squandered by directors (there could be few exceptions) in the past who had nothing else to show of him but slow motion shots of the debonair actor walking up and down in immaculate suits and designer shades. And, mind you, there were lots of people who doubted his dialogue delivering abilities but Mankatha proves them all wrong.

And now with Mankatha, it is evident that Ajith has completely come out of his old garb and has shown absolutely no trepidations to essay such a Kafkaesque portrayal despite the film being a milestone in his two decade long career in the world of gloss and glory.

Cut to the real life, Ajith has come across as someone who is honest and forthright, qualities that are quite rare in the world that we inhabit. He is famous for his politically incorrect statements and is known to speak his mind courageously without any embellishments whatsoever. We have seen him stand up for his principles during a felicitation meet of the former CM seeking his help to artists who did not want to be dragged into such events. In an industry which thrives on fan clubs and fans, he was gutsy enough to disband them overnight, an act which is simply unfathomable in a normal context.

Therefore it certainly does not come as a surprise that Ajith chose to do Vinayak Mahadev of Mankatha without vacillation because it is after all a character that he is playing and he did not mind about the ‘heroic’ image. To quote his stance from the film, “Naan evvaLuvu naaL daan nallavana nadikkaradu”. He just wanted to do a role that was different and exciting. And looking at the film, anybody would see that Ajith has had a field day playing Vinayak Mahadev. A job well-done Ajith!

On a signing off note; if all our heroes shred their so called image to take on such roles and entertain, movie buffs would do a rambunctious jig and would simply say MANKATHA da!


__________________________________________________ ___________________

Sourav ivolov pera pathu senja sari. . . http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/thumbsup.gif

¤¤ Ajith's 50th movie ¤ Mankatha ¤ VP ¤ U1 ¤ Part-II¤¤
 

Mankatha Box Office DHAMAKA
Sridhar Pillai
Thala is truly the emperor of opening. He has broken a lot of myths surrounding box-office.
Mankatha is a phenomenon @ the box-office. Trade estimate is that the film will net approximately Rs 27 to Rs 30 Cr in the 1st week. Super

Mankatha 2nd biggest opener in Tamil film business! Trade Sources have confirmed that the film has net approximately Rs 6.5 Cr on Aug 31!
Kollywood stars and trade r overjoyed with M opening. They feel it will boost & revive the industry.


Mankatha Rs 25.9 Cr is net (after tax deduction) for 5 days only 4 Tamil Nadu from approx 375 screens.

Mankatha- 4 those asking 4 Chennai City, B-O collections is estimated 2 b Rs 2.72 cr net (after deducting 15% tax)- Aug 31 2 Sep 4

Mankatha @ Sathyam Cinemas, 2 screens Sathyam & Santham nets (after reduction of 15% tax) a whopping Rs 33,72, 000 in 5 days!
Mankatha B-O update- Has been tracking collections, 2nd best 1st day (Rs 6.5Cr)

4 all those who want 2 know the highest netting 1st week collection, it is Endhiran = Rs 39.5 Cr. M will be the 2nd highest netting film.

reserved

http://www.tamilcinema.com/CINENEWS/...er/091110a.asp

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/icon_eek.gif

Ivangalukku Ajith mela enna kovam?

content pls.

துப்புனா பிரசாதம், தூங்குனா மோனநிலைன்னு அஜீத் விஷயத்துல ஒட்டுமொத்த கோடம்பாக்கமும் நெட்டு குத்தா நின்னு அடிக்கிற ஜால்ராவுக்கு அளவே இல்லை. அதில் லேட்டஸ்ட் காமெடி அஜீத் போட்ட பிரயாணி!

ஒரு விஷயத்தை பரப்புவதற்கு முன்பு இது சாத்தியமா என்பதை கூட யோசிக்காமல் செய்வதில் தமிழனுக்கு நிகர் அவனேதான். படப்பிடிப்பு குழுவினருக்கு அவரே தன் கையால் பிரியாணி செய்து போட்டார் என்று பாராட்டுகிறார்கள். சந்தோஷம். ஆனால் அறுசுவை அரசர் நடராஜன் கூட இந்த வேலையை செய்து முடிப்பதற்குள் தீய்ஞ்சு போன உப்புமா ஆகிவிடுவார் என்பதுதான் உண்மை. நிலைமை இப்படியிருக்க கிச்சனில் கிடந்து சிக்கன் போல பொறிய முடியுமா வியர்வையே படாத அஜீத்தால்? இந்த சின்ன யோசனை கூட இல்லாமல் ஏன் இப்படி போற்றித் தள்ளி புளியோதரை கிண்ட வேண்டும்? அதுவும் நமது மீடியா நண்பர்களும் சேர்ந்து கொண்டு!

தனது வீட்டு வேலைக்கார அம்மாவை உட்கார வைத்து, "தினம் தினம் நீங்க எங்களுக்கு சமைச்சு போடுறீங்க. இன்னைக்கு நான் உங்களுக்கு சமைச்சு போடுறேன்" என்று அவருக்கு பிரியாணி செய்து போட்டவர் அஜீத். இந்த செய்கையை நாமே பலமுறை எழுதி பாராட்டியும் இருக்கிறோம். மங்காத்தா யூனிட்டில் தினந்தோறும் பணியாற்றுகிறவர்களின் எண்ணிக்கை குறைந்தது 100 பேர். இவர்கள் அத்தனை பேருக்கும் ஒரு சூப்பர் ஹீரோ பிரியாணி செய்து போடுவது என்பது அவ்வளவு சுலபமானது அல்ல. அப்படி போட வேண்டிய அவசியமும் அவருக்கு இல்லை. (ஃபார்முலா ரேசில் முதலிடத்தில் வந்தாலும் அஜீத் இந்த வேலையை செய்யப் போவது இல்லை)

நமது விசாரணையில் கிடைத்த தகவல் இதுதான். அன்றைய பிரியாணி செலவை அஜீத்தே ஏற்றுக் கொண்டாராம். தனக்கு பிடித்த ஒரு மாஸ்டரிடம் ஆர்டர் கொடுத்து இதை செய்து தர சொல்லியிருக்கிறார்.

அதற்குள் இப்படி ஒரு செய்தியை கிளப்பிவிட்ட அன்பர்களுக்கு அஜீத் கொடுத்தது, பிரியாணி பொட்டலத்தை விட வெயிட்டாகவும் லெக் பீசை விட ருசியாகவும் இருந்திருக்குமோ என்னவோ?

already posted

aama..., trisha, VP, kalyan than ajith kitta 1000 2000 vaangittu ajith briyani senju pottar-nu tweet pannirukkanga...pongayaa naansenssugala... http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...on_twisted.gif

November 11 : Exclusive New Mankatha Paper Ad

http://www.starajith.com/2305-novemb...katha-paper-ad

Is Ajith sporting grey hair in the movie?

Clooney is much older to Ajith, right?

Yes he is nearing 50 ajith nearing 40...

November 12 : Exclusive New Mankatha Paper Ad

http://starajith.com/2306-november-1...katha-paper-ad

good one, reminds me our 'James Bond' Jai Sankar

Enna Makkale, Sathame kaanom, Twitter la ethuvum seithi varalaya?

MANKATHA STAR REVEALS ROLE

http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-mov...-12-11-10.html