''Manikanda'' is a 2007 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Selva Selva () is a coastal comarque (county) in Catalonia, Spain, located between the mountain range known as the Serralada Transversal or Puigsacalm and the Costa Brava (part of the Mediterranean coast). Unusually, it is divided between the provinc ...

. Arjun plays a dual role, that of father and son. The film, which began production in 2002, went through more production, and was finally released in 2007, was promoted as

Jyothika Jyothika Saravanan (; born 18 October 1978) is an Indian actress, model and film producer who predominantly appears in Tamil films.

's "last release". It is a remake of the 2000 Telugu movie ''

Jayam Manadera ''Jayam Manadera'' () is a 2000 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by N. Shankar and produced by D. Suresh Babu under the Suresh Productions banner. It stars Venkatesh, Soundarya and Bhanupriya, with music composed by Vandem ...

''. ''Manikanda'' was opened to negative reviews.

Plot

Raja lives in Mumbai with his father. Mahalakshmi goes to Bombay to get the blessings of a godwoman but since she is unable to meet Mataji immediately, she is forced to stay in Mumbai for ten days and rents a guestroom among the many run by Raja. Love blossoms between Raja and Maha and when she returns to her village Maniyoor, he follows a few days later on her invitation. After he lands there, he discovers his own link to the village.

Cast

* Arjun as Manikandan/Raja (dual role) *

Jyothika Jyothika Saravanan (; born 18 October 1978) is an Indian actress, model and film producer who predominantly appears in Tamil films.

as Mahalakshmi (Maha) *

Uma Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi in ...

as Lakshmi Manikandan *

Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960), known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and playback singer, having acted in supporting and lead roles in Tamil cinema. He gained widespread acclaim in Kollywood in the 2 ...

as Madhayaanai *

Ashish Vidyarthi Ashish Vidyarthi (born 19 June 1962) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Odia, Marathi and Bengali films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he received t ...

as Balasingam *

Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...

as Veerasamy * Nalini as Mahalakshmi's mother *

P. Vasu Vasudevan Peethambharan, known professionally as P Vasu, is an Indian director, writer and actor who works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam language films. In a career spanning three decades, Vasu has directed over 64 films.

as Mahalakshmi's grandfather *

Pasupathy Pasupathy (born 5 September 1967) is an Indian actor. He appeared in critically acclaimed roles in many noted films in Tamil cinema, playing supporting, antagonistic, comedic as well as protagonistic roles. His performance in '' E'' (2006) ear ...

* Malavika *

Poovilangu Mohan Poovilangu Mohan ( ta, பூவிலங்கு மோகன்) is an Indian film and television actor. He got the sobriquet "Poovilangu" because of his performance in the Tamil film '' Poovilangu''. He has acted in more than 100 movies in s ...

Periya Karuppu Thevar Periya Karuppa Thevar (1936 - 18 September 2012) was a Tamil film character artiste and folk singer who appeared in Tamil-language films. Film career PKT was part of the drama troupe floated by veteran Sankaradoss Swamigal more than fifty year ...

Madhan Bob S. Krishnamoorthy (born 19 October 1953) professionally known as Madhan Bob, is an Indian actor and comedian, appearing in many Tamil films in supporting roles. Madhan Babu is known for his amusing facial expressions, laughter and protruding ey ...

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

Singamuthu Singamuthu (born 8 December 1958) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films as a comedian. Career Singamuthu has primarily appeared in comedy roles in films as a supporting actor debuting in ''Neram Nalla Irukku'' (1987). He ...

Thennavan ''Thennavan'' is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language political action film written and directed by newcomer A. M. Nandakumar and produced by Vijayakanth, who played the title role Thennavan IAS, in-charge as the Chief Election Commissioner and fight ...

Bonda Mani Bonda Mani is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He has worked in comedy and supporting roles in over 270 films. Career Bonda Mani has described that his stage name is derived from his diet of bondas, when he was a stru ...

Halwa Vasu Vasu, popularly known as Halwa Vasu, (died 17 August 2017) was a comedian in the Tamil film industry in India. He worked in around 900 films. Career Vasu who hailed from Madurai district, came to Chennai to work in cinemas after his graduati ...

Priyanka ''Priyanka'' is a popular female given name in Hindu and Buddhist cultures. It is a name derived from the Sanskrit word 'Priyankera' or 'Priyankara', meaning someone or something that is amiable, lovable, or makes you happy and the one who has lov ...

as Maha's friend *Jeeva * O. A. K. Sundar *

Satya Prakash Satya Prakash (born 1929) is an Indian plasma physicist and a former senior professor at the Physical Research Laboratory. He is known for his studies on Langmuir probes and other contributions in space and plasma sciences. A protégé of Vik ...

*Vijay Ganesh *

Chelladurai Chelladurai (1941 - 7 February 2015) was an Indian comedian who worked in Tamil-language films. He acted in over 350 films. Career Chelladurai made his film debut with ''Thooral Ninnu Pochchu'' (1982). He is known for his comic sequences w ...

Nellai Siva Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

Kovai Senthil Kumarasamy, known by his stage name, Kovai Senthil, was a Tamil film character artist who appeared in Tamil films starting with Bhagyaraj's ''Oru Kai Osai''. He appeared in over 400 Tamil films. Career During his career, Kovai Senthil made ...

Production

Selva who earlier directed ''

Karnaa ''Karnaa'' is a 1995 Indian Tamil language action film directed by Selva. The film stars Arjun, Ranjitha and Vineetha. It was released on 14 April 1995 and was declared a super hit at the box office. Plot Vijay ( Arjun), a carefree and fro ...

'' (1995) with Arjun announced the project in mid-2003. Jyothika was selected to play the lead role uniting with Arjun for second time after ''

Rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

'' (2000). P. Vasu, Pasupathi, Ashish Vidyarthi were selected to play villains. There were rumours that film's title would be changed as ''Nanba'' but later proved untrue. The film's story happens in a village called Keeripatti where elections were never held for so many years. M.G.R's hit song "Mama Mama" has been remixed in this film. Due to financial crisis the film was shelved for sometime and Selva and Arjun went on to do ''

Aanai ''Aanai'' ( Order) is a 2005 Indian Tamil language action drama film written and directed by Selva. It stars Arjun, Namitha and Keerthi Chawla in the lead, while Vadivelu, Sanghavi and Manoj K. Jayan play pivotal roles. D. Imman composed the ...

'' (2005). During the time, Selva shelved other projects like ''Mamu'' (with

Sathyaraj Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), professionally known as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, producer, director and a media personality who has predominantly appeares in Tamil cinema and Telugu cinema, Telugu Cinema. His 240 films also includ ...

and

Sibiraj Sibi Sathyaraj (also credited as Sibiraj) is an Indian actor working in the Tamil film industry. He is the son of actor Sathyaraj. Early life and education Sibi did his schooling in Sherwood Hall Senior Secondary School and Don Bosco Matricula ...

) and ''

Thotta ''Thotta'' ( en, Bullet) is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language gangster film directed by Selva and produced by Mariappa Babu Baskar of Oscar Movies (a pioneer film production house in Kollywood). The film stars actor Jeevan and Priyamani alongside Ma ...

'' (2008) (with Jeevan and

Priyamani Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer (born 4 June 1984), known by her professional name Priyamani, is an Indian actress and former model, who works in the South Indian film industry. She is a recipient of Several Awards. Priyamani made her acting debut t ...

which he later continued) and finished '' Nenjil'' (2006) with

Navdeep Navdeep Pallapolu (born 26 January 1986) is an Indian actor and television personality who appears in Telugu films along with Tamil films. He made his film debut in 2004 with the patriotic sports drama '' Jai''. He starred in films such as '' ...

. Project was restarted in 2006 with a change of storyline and it was finally completed.

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to

Raj TV Raj TV is a Tamil language Indian general entertainment channel based in Chennai, India, which was launched on 14 October 1994. Rajtv became as the second most popular channel in Tamil. It is available through digital and mobile entertainment ...

Critical reception

The Hindu wrote: "looks outdated". Cinefundas wrote:"The scenes are disjointed, have many loose ends, and lack uniformity and a smooth flow. It's only towards the end that it perks up".

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Deva, with lyrics written by

Piraisoodan Piraisoodan (6 February 1956 – 8 October 2021) was a Tamil poet and lyricist. He won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Lyricist for his songs in movies like ''Thayagam'', '' En Rasavin Manasile'' and ''Neeyum Naanum'' in 1996, 1991 and ...

Na. Muthukumar Nagarajan Muthukumar (12 July 1975 – 14 August 2016) was a Tamil poet, lyricist, and author. Best known for his Tamil language film songs, he received the most Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist in Tamil and was a two-time recipient of the Nat ...

and Kabilan.http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/moviedetail.asp?mid=T0000696

References

External links

still photos

{{Selva (director) 2007 films Films scored by Deva (composer) 2000s Tamil-language films Films set in Mumbai Films shot in Mumbai Indian action drama films 2000s masala films Tamil remakes of Telugu films Films directed by Selva (director) 2007 action drama films