''Mankatha'' () is a 2011 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 crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

written and directed by

Venkat Prabhu Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian filmmaker, actor and playback singer in Tamil films. After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his first ...

. It stars

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil films. To date, he has starred in over 60 films. His awards include four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Tamil N ...

in his 50th film, along with an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

including

Arjun Sarja Srinivasa "Arjun" Sarja is an Indian actor, producer, and director who works predominantly in the Tamil film industry, in addition to Kannada and Telugu languages as well. Referred to by the media and his fans as " Action King" for his roles in ...

Trisha Krishnan Trisha Krishnan (born 4 May 1983), known mononymously as Trisha, is an Indian actress and model, who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu films. She was noticed after winning Miss Chennai contest (1999), which marked her entry into the fil ...

Lakshmi Rai Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with '' Maya'' ("Illusion"). Al ...

, Anjali,

Andrea Jeremiah Andrea Maria Jeremiah is an Indian actress, playback singer, and a musician, who works predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil and Malayalam language films. She made her acting debut in Tamil language, Tamil film ''Pachaikili Muthucharam'' (2007 ...

Vaibhav Reddy Sumanth Reddy (born 21 April 1978), better known as Vaibhav, is an Indian actor who works primarily in Tamil film industry. He made his debut with the Telugu film ''Godava'' (2007) under his father, A. Kodandarami Reddy's direction. He is best ...

Premji Amaren Prem Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 26 February 1979), better known as Premgi, is an Indian playback singer, composer, songwriter, actor and comedian. The son of composer and director Gangai Amaran, he often composes rap songs in Tamil cinema and ...

, and

Mahat Raghavendra Mahat Raghavendra is an Indian actor who works in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cinema. He is best known for his supporting roles in the heist thriller film, ''Mankatha'' (2011), the action drama, ''Jilla'' (2014) and As lead in the ''Double XL'' (20 ...

. It was produced by Dhayanidhi Alagiri's

Cloud Nine Movies Cloud Nine Movies was an Indian film production and distribution company, based in Chennai. It is owned by Dayanidhi Azhagiri and Vivek Rathinavel and was founded in 2008 until 2014. He founded another new production company in 2013, Meeka Ent ...

while

Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja or Abdul Haliq (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Wes ...

composed the musical score and

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

, with

Sakthi Saravanan Sakthi Saravanan is an Indian cinematographer, who works in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He is best known for his hand held and gritty work with Venkat Prabhu and M. Rajesh directorials. Praveen K. L. Kuchipudi Latha Praveen is an Indian film editor, based in Chennai, who works predominantly in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and English films. He is a recipient of one National Film Award, one Tamizh Nadu State Film Award among others. He ha ...

and

N. B. Srikanth N. B. Srikanth is an Indian film editor, working primarily in the Tamil film industry. He worked along with Praveen K. L. in various successful films. Filmography * 2007: ''Chennai 600028'' * 2008: '' Saroja'' * 2009: '' Kunguma Poovum Konjum ...

as editors. The story, set in Mumbai, revolves around a heist of cricket betting money, executed by a gang of four thieves, who are joined by a fifth unknown man, and its aftermath. The film was formally launched in August 2010, with its principal photography beginning on 25 October 2010. Filming was held for more than eight months and took place primarily across

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, the

Dharavi Dharavi is a locality in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, considered to be one of the world's largest slums. Dharavi has an area of just over and a population of about 1,000,000. With a population density of over , Dharavi is one of the most dens ...

slum in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, Thailand. Following speculations regarding the film's release,

Sun Pictures Sun Pictures is an Indian film distribution and production studio based in Chennai, India. It is a unit of Sun TV Network a part of the Sun Group. Founded in 2000, it started producing the TV film ''Siragugal ''Siragugal'' () is an Indi ...

acquired the theatrical rights and distributed the film via

Raadhika Raadhika Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, entrepreneur, producer and politician who works predominantly in Tamil cinema along with Telugu cinema as well as a few Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. She is the founder and CP of the Radaan Media ...

's Radaan Mediaworks. ''Mankatha'' released on 31 August 2011 worldwide to generally positive reviews and grossed the second biggest opening of all time after ''

Enthiran ''Enthiran'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film written and directed by S. Shankar. It is the first instalment in the ''Enthiran'' franchise. The film stars Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with Danny De ...

'' at the time of release.

Plot

Vinayak Mahadev, an ACP of

Maharashtra Police Maharashtra Police (IAST: ''Mahārāṣṭra Polīs Sēvā'', formerly ''Bombay State Police'') is the law enforcement agency responsible for the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is headed by Director General of Police, Rajnish Seth (IPS), and h ...

, is suspended for having saved smuggler Faizal from encounter killing and helping him escape. Meanwhile, a police officer commits suicide because of the leakage of his

IPL The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

gambling plans, who is revealed to be Kamal Ekambaram. ACP Prithviraj takes charge to end the betting scandals in IPL cricket in

. Prithvi then reveals that Kamal faked his death in a secret mission to draw attention to the betting scandals and returns under the name Praveen Kumar. Arumuga Chettiyar, an influential illegal business dealer and Faizal's boss, owns "Golden Theatres" in Mumbai, which has been converted into a gambling den and forms the front for all his illegal businesses. Chettiyar uses his links with dons in Mumbai and tries to route through his old theatre, a cash of over to be used in betting. Vinayak is introduced to Chettiyar through his girlfriend Sanjana. Sanjana is in love with Vinayak, but he pretends to love her. Sumanth, a goon working for Chettiyar, hatches a conspiracy to rob the money in the company of his friends: Ganesh, a local

Sub-Inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police, is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which is primarily based on the British model. It was formerly used in most British col ...

; Mahat, who owns a bar in Mumbai; and Mahat's friend Prem, an IIT graduate. Vinayak befriends the boys at Sumanth's marriage with Suchithra. One late evening, Vinayak meets Prem, who becomes inebriated by him and reveals their heist plan. Vinayak starts spying on them and confronts them on the day of the planned heist, stepping in. The four take him in, promising him a fifth of the share. Vinayak has other plans. He wants to kill his accomplices and take the entire amount. He promises to help them and divide it between them. After looting the money, they leave the money in an abandoned godown. Later, all of them celebrate the turn of events at Mahat's bar, but Sumanth is identified at the party by Faizal and is later caught by him. Sumanth is cornered by Chettiyar, who orders Faizal to kill him for his treachery, but is rescued in time by Ganesh and Vinayak, and the trio escape from the hideout, taking Chettiyar hostage. While driving back to the godown, Vinayak finds Sanjana on the way and brutally shoves Chettiyar out of the vehicle in front of her. Sanjana engulfs in grief when she learns of Vinayak's true intentions. Upon reaching the godown, they discover that Mahat and Prem had escaped with the cash and are accompanied by Sona. The three are then confronted by Faizal and Chettiyar's men, but manage to evade them and get on the run. Sumanth later turns against Vinayak when he discovers that his wife had been kidnapped by Chettiyar. After a brief scuffle, Sumanth runs into Prithvi, who takes him to custody and rescues his wife on the condition that he turns approver and divulge everything. He is killed when Prithvi's wife Sabitha is kidnapped and threatened by Vinayak. Vinayak learns of Mahat and Prem's whereabouts through Ganesh, and along with him, starts pursuing them. Prithvi and the others follow suit, and all of them are holed up in a highway resort with the money. A sequence of events lead to the murders of the gang members one by one — Mahat is killed by Sona, who gets killed by Vinayak and Prem gets killed by Prithvi — with Ganesh and Vinayak remaining alive. A final fight ensues between Vinayak and Prithvi. At the final moment of the fight, Praveen throws a gun at Prithvi, who shoots Vinayak, and a huge explosion rocks the shack, seemingly ending the fight. After several days, the police gets information about Ganesh to be living in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Praveen arrives there but comes across Vinayak. Praveen confronts him and calls up Prithvi to inform him of Vinayak's presence, but it is revealed that Prithvi and Vinayak are best friends since their college days and took police training together. They had come to know about the betting money scheme by Chettiyar and operated the plan together (including Vinayak's faked death). Ganesh had also been killed by Vinayak as a part of the plan, and Prithvi and Vinayak escaped the explosion with the , each taking as their share. Prithvi informs Vinayak that their money is safe in the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

and asks him to deal with Praveen. Vinayak then snatches Praveen's gun and holds him at gunpoint, saying ''Game over''.

Cast

as ACP Vinayak Mahadev, I.P.S. *

as ACP Prithviraj, leader of the Special Squad formed to track down the IPL Bookies *

as Sanjana Chettiyar *

as Sona * Anjali as Suchitra Sumanth *

as Sabitha Prithviraj *

as Sumanth''Mankatha'' (DVD): clip from 2.36.24 to 2.37.00 *

Ashwin Kakumanu Ashwin Kakumanu is an Indian actor, who is best known for his role as Ganeshan in Venkat Prabhu's ''Mankatha''. Career Ashwin initially auditioned for a role in '' Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa''. The director, Gautham Vasudev Menon, was close to ...

as Ganesh, SI of

as Prem, a professional hacker *

as Mahat, a leisure bar owner *

Jayaprakash V. Jayaprakash is an Indian actor and producer who works in Tamil and Telugu-language films. He ventured into film business in the early 2000s as a producer, making several films under his banner GJ Cinema and later turned actor, with Cheran's ...

as Arumuga Chettiyar, a business dealer who owns "Golden Theatres" * Aravind Akash as Faizal, Chettiyaar's goon *

Subbu Panchu Subramaniam Panchu Arunachalam, credited as Subbu Panchu or P. Ar. Subramaniam (born 16 February 1973) is an Indian actor and film producer. Son of noted writer-producer Panchu Arunachalam, Subbu first appeared as a child artist in the Malayala ...

as Kamal Ekambaram/Praveen Kumar * Ravikanth as Chettiyar's assistant * Boys Rajan as Special Squad officer *

Vinay Forrt Vinay Kumar, professionally credited as Vinay Forrt is an Indian film and stage actor. He hails from Fort Kochi, Kerala and is a theatre activist with more than a decade's worth of experience in the theatrical field as well as a postgraduate in ...

as Sriharan *

Chemban Vinod Jose Chemban Vinod Jose is an Indian actor, film producer, and screenwriter, who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He is a physiotherapist by profession.Assim Jamal as Karthik *

Ramya Subramanian Ramya Subramanian, also known as VJ Ramya, is an Indian actress and television host, who has worked in the Tamil film industry. Career Ramya participated in the Miss Chennai competition in 2004. She subsequently went on to host television ...

as Reporter (special appearance) *

Vijay Vasanth Vijay Vasanth (born Vijayakumar Vasanthakumar on 20 May 1983) is an Indian politician who is a Member of Parliament from Kanyakumari Loksabha constituency. He contested and won the bypoll that took place for Kanyakumari Loksabha constituency i ...

in a cameo appearance as the wine shop owner * Debi Dutta as an item number "Machi, Open The Bottle" * Kainaat Arora as an item number "Machi, Open The Bottle" * Rachel White in a special appearance * Dipali Singh in a special appearance *

Sakthi Saravanan Sakthi Saravanan is an Indian cinematographer, who works in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He is best known for his hand held and gritty work with Venkat Prabhu and M. Rajesh directorials. Venkat Prabhu Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian filmmaker, actor and playback singer in Tamil films. After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his first ...

in a special appearance (uncredited cameo) *

Ramesh Thilak Ramesh Thilak is an Indian radio jockey and actor who has appeared in Tamil films. He made his breakthrough with Nalan Kumarasamy's ''Soodhu Kavvum'' (2013) portraying a kidnapper, before playing a similar role of a thief in Alphonse Putharen's ...

as Arumuga Chettiyar's henchman (uncredited role)

Production

Development

Following the release of his film ''

Aasal ''Aasal'' () () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Saran. The film stars Ajith Kumar in the lead role, who is also credited for the story, dialogues, screenplay and co-direction of the film, while Sameera Reddy and ...

'' in February 2010,

was signed by Dhayanidhi Alagiri's

for a project touted to be directed by

Gautham Vasudev Menon Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He has also directed Telugu cinema, Telugu and Hindi cinema, Hindi films th ...

. However, as Ajith participated in the 2010 season of the

FIA Formula Two Championship The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater championship organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on road racing, racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebrandi ...

, unwilling to wait, decided to shelve the film and opted to focus on another project, which prompted

, who was keen on making a multi-starrer film featuring top stars, to sign the actor in his next film, after the director saw moderate success with his previous film, ''

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

''. Prabhu had written three scripts, out of which the actor chose ''Mankatha'', in which he would portray a character "with grey shades". Venkat Prabhu later disclosed that Ajith was never considered for the role when he wrote the first draft of the script but that he kept his "usual gang of boys in mind" while creating the characters.

suggested that a "big hero" should play the protagonist, with actor

Vivek Oberoi Vivek Anand Oberoi (born 3 September 1976) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Hindi cinema, in addition to working in few Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil films. Early life Vivek Oberoi was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, to a Punjab ...

and

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 ...

being considered first for the role. Ajith had called Prabhu at that time and expressed interest in performing a role similar to

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book ''Batman (comic book), Bat ...

character played by

Heath Ledger Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to ...

in the 2008 American

superhero film A superhero film (or superhero movie) is a film that focuses on the actions of superheroes. Superheroes are individuals who possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films typically feature Action film, ac ...

The Dark Knight ''The Dark Knight'' is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero, Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman Begins'' (2005) and the second insta ...

''. With the protagonist role in ''Mankatha'' incidentally being such a character, Ajith immediately accepted the role, turning the film into a high-profile production. Prabhu further emphasised that the script had been altered due to Ajith's entry and he had incorporated "certain elements" that Ajith's fans would expect in a film and also said that "I approached Mankatha as a fan and asked myself how I would want to see Ajith sir on screen and then set out".

Pre-production

The film officially commenced on 2 August 2010 with the formal launch and a simple pooja held at the AVM Studios, Chennai, coinciding with Ajith's 18th anniversary of his entry into the film industry. The film's title, initially being ''Mangaatha'', derived from a popular Indian traditional

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

, underwent a minor change in its spelling, due to

numerological Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...

reasons. During the pre-production stage, while Prabhu was still working on the

scriptment A scriptment is a written work by a movie or television screenwriter that combines elements of a script and treatment, especially the dialogue elements, which are formatted the same as in a screenplay. It is a more elaborate document than a standa ...

, sources claimed the film to be on the lines of

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh (; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. A pioneer of modern independent cinema, Soderbergh is an acclaimed and prolific filmmaker. Soderbergh's direc ...

's heist film '' Ocean Eleven'' (2001). The story was later reported to revolve around a Mafia gang gambling during the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

(IPL)

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

season. In June 2011, reports emerged that the film was a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of the 2008

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

Jannat Jannat Mahid ( ar, جنات مهيد; born January 6, 1986), known by her stage name Jannat ( ar, جنات, , ); is a Moroccan- Egyptianelwatannews.com/news/details/5010141 singer and actress. She was born in Morocco and presently living and pe ...

'' that was based on

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

. However, Dhayanidhi and Venkat Prabhu quickly denied the news and assured that ''Mankatha'' was original. Upon completion of filming, Prabhu named it "his favourite film so far" and "close to my heart".

Casting

The film was supposed to be a " multi-starrer", with several leading Indian actors expected to appear in it, which is a rare occurrence and would be the first of its kind in the

Tamil film industry Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood ...

. Telugu actor

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

was first approached to essay a powerful character as a CBI officer, being initially confirmed by the director during the launch of the film. He had also conveyed interest in remaking the film into

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and playing Ajith's role in return, but since he could not adjust his

call sheet Daily call sheet is a filmmaking term for the schedule supervised by the assistant director and crafted by the 2nd assistant director, using the director's shot list, the production schedule and other logistics considerations. It is issued to the ...

, he was forced to pull out, with Arjun replacing him in November 2010.On gambling and gunfire
. The Hindu (10 September 2011). Retrieved 1 June 2015. In an interview from August 2010, Venkat Prabhu had affirmed that

Mohan Babu Manchu Bhakthavatsalam, credited and also known as Mohan Babu, is an Indian actor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. An alumnus of the Madras Film Institute, Mohan Babu has acted in more than 500 films in lead, sup ...

's son,

Manoj Manchu Manchu Manoj Kumar (born 20 May 1983) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. He first appeared at the age of ten as a child artist in '' Major Chandrakanth''. He made his film debut in a leading role with ''Donga Dongadi'' in 2004. He re ...

Ganesh Venkatraman Ganesh Venkatraman is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu films. He had acted in Radha Mohan's '' Abhiyum Naanum'' (2008), before working in '' Unnaipol Oruvan'' (2009) and ''Kandahar'' (2010). Career Ganesh began his a ...

, Venkat Prabhu's younger brother,

, who had been part of all his brothers' films, and a newcomer

, a childhood friend of producer Dhayanidhi Alagiri, were signed to portray Ajith's

sidekick A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague (not necessarily in fiction) who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to the one they accompany. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, ...

s in the film. However, Manoj Manchu couldn't accept the offer due to a shoulder injury and was eventually replaced by

, appearing in the third consecutive Venkat Prabhu film, while in December 2010, sources revealed that another newcomer

, who previously was seen in '' Nadunisi Naaygal'', was roped in for the fourth role, replacing Ganesh Venkatraman.

Nandha Durairaj Nandaa Dorairaj is an Indian actor, producer who primarily works in Tamil films. He made his debut in ''Mounam Pesiyadhe'' (2002) and later appeared in other films such as ''Eeram'' (2009). Early life Nandaa Dorairaj was born as Govind Duraira ...

later stated that he was offered the role as well, but had to reject it since he was busy shooting for ''

Vellore Maavattam ''Vellore Maavattam'' ( en, Vellore district) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by R. N. R. Manohar, starring Nandha and Poorna in the lead roles. Produced by AGS Entertainment AGS Entertainment is an Ind ...

''. Prasanna was also considered for the film only to reject due to busy schedules. Jai in 2013 revealed that he was initially roped in to play the police officer role but that Venkat Prabhu replaced him with Arjun after Ajith became part of the project. Prabhu termed the film as "male-oriented", attaching less importance and significance to the female characters in the film. Early reports suggested that Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kajal Aggarwal and Anushka Shetty were initially approached for the lead female roles, while in July 2010, reports surfaced that

Shriya Saran Shriya Saran Bhatnagar (; born 11 September 1982) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi-language films. Although Saran aspired to become a well-known dancer, she became an actress with her film debut in 2001 ...

and

Neetu Chandra Nitu Chandra is an Indian actress, film producer and theatre artist. She is also a classical dancer and a sportsperson, involved in the promotion of basketball in the country through her close association with the NBA and Taekwondo, being a fou ...

, and

were supposedly signed for the roles. However, the following month Neetu Chandra opted out of the film, refusing the project due to unavailability of dates. Subsequently,

Trisha Trisha is a unisex given name, usually derived from the female Latin given name Patricia. Notable people and characters with the name include: People *Trisha (actress), Indian film actress Trisha Krishnan (born 1983) * Trisha Baptie (born 197 ...

was signed to portray Sanjana, Ajith's love interest, pairing with him for the third time, with Lakshmi Rai being confirmed later, who was signed on to play an important and "lengthy role". Venkat Prabhu revealed that changes in the script resulted in changes of the female characters' personalities, clarifiying that Trisha was not the replacement for Neetu Chandra and that the characters offered to both were different, while adding that Trisha's role was specifically written for her. Prabhu further stated that Lakshmi Rai was first chosen to play Ashwin's pair, which was dropped when the screenplay was altered, and that she was eventually offered the role of Sona, resolving that Rai was not given a choice to select between the roles of Sanjana and Sona, as the actress had claimed post the film's release. Earlier, reports had claimed that model and actress

Jacqueline Fernandez Jacqueline Fernandez (born 11 August 1985) is a Sri Lankan actress and model. She has worked in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi, besides appearing in reality shows and music videos. Debuting with ''Aladin'' in 2009 she has since then es ...

was also roped in for a guest role. In November 2010, Sneha was reported to be added to the cast to be paired opposite Arjun, however the role was later finalised with

portraying that character. She was also expected to perform a song for the soundtrack album. Other additions to the cast in the following months included

, who rose to fame with his appearance in ''

Boss Engira Bhaskaran ''Boss Engira Bhaskaran'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by M. Rajesh who earlier directed ''Siva Manasula Sakthi'' (2009). Starring Arya, Nayanthara and Santhanam in lead roles, the film is produc ...

'' and would essay a police officer character,

, enacting also a character with negative shades as the father of Trisha's character, and Anjali, playing Vaibhav's pair. Sources claimed that Venkat Prabhu himself would also enact a pivotal role in the film, while reports suggesting that Vijay would appear in a

cameo role A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

were dismissed by the producer, who clarified that

would appear in a pivotal role. Concerning the film crew, Venkat Prabhu renewed his previous associations with his cousin

, for the background score and soundtrack of ''Mankatha'',

, who along with

, would take care of the editing.

Vasuki Bhaskar Vasuki Bhaskar is an Indian fashion design, fashion and costume designer, working in the Tamil film industry. She is the daughter of film producer R.D. Bhaskar and Pavalar Creations is their own production house. Career Vasuki was born as the o ...

and Kalyan remained the

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

and the main choreographer, respectively, with Shoby joining the latter for a couple of songs, while Selva was assigned as the

stunt coordinator A stunt coordinator, usually an experienced stunt performer, is hired by a TV, film or theatre director or production company for stunt casting. Their job is to arrange the casting (stunt players and stunt doubles) and performance of stunts for ...

Filming

The film was launched on 2 August 2010 at AVM Studios in

Vadapalani Vadapalani is a neighbourhood in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. It is known for its film studios and the Vadapalani Andavar Temple, which is an important pilgrimage centre. Situated in the western part of Chennai, Vadapalani is an im ...

in a simple manner, following which the film's shooting commenced with the

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

. The first schedule of filming was supposed to begin by early September, but due to pre-production works and since the principal cast was not decided yet, the shooting got delayed further, finally commencing on 25 October in

. Several days earlier, a test shoot was conducted with Premji Amaren, Mahat Raghavendra and Vaibhav Reddy taking part in it. Following shoots, involving Ajith, Trisha and Premji, along the

Rajiv Gandhi Salai State Highway 49A (SH-49A) also known as Rajiv Gandhi Salai and Rajiv Gandhi IT Expressway or just IT Expressway is a major road connecting Chennai, Tamil Nadu with Mahabalipuram in Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu. It is 45 km long and ...

(OMR), and at Ajith's home, a duet song, picturized on Ajith and Trisha, featuring CGI special effects, was filmed in early November, in a Chennai studio nearby the

East Coast Road East Coast Road (ECR), combination of SH-49, NH-332A, NH-32, officially known as Mutthamizh Arignar Kalaignar Road, is a two-lane highway (now being partially upgraded to four-lane way from Chennai to Mamallapuram) in Tamil Nadu, India, built ...

. From 10 November onwards, the "introduction" song was shot for five days in

, with Ajith,

and some foreigners participating. The film's second schedule was planned to begin on 6 December 2010 in a studio in

, which was slightly delayed due to heavy rain, and started couple of days later. This led to speculation that the film had been shelved due to financial constraints, which was quickly denied by Venkat Prabhu. During the schedule, all important stunt sequences were canned at Binny Mills in

Perambur Perambur is a neighbourhood located in the northern region of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Etymology In Tamil, ''pirambu (பிரம்பு)'' means bamboo and ''ur (ஊர்)'' means city or place. Before British rule, this place was wid ...

, while simultaneously a grand set, resembling the

slum in

was erected in a Chennai studio. Ajith also performed one of the action choreographies with the use of a body mounted camera, weighing around 30 kg. In late December, the third song, a "high-spirited peppy number", was shot for five days, with Shobi choreographing the steps. An

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and Be ...

, titled "Machi, Open The Bottle", it featured actresses Debi Dutta and Kainaat Arora dancing to the song along with Ajith and the rest of the gang The schedule was wrapped up by early February, with which approximately fifty per cent of the film was reportedly completed. The remaining part of the film was supposedly to be shot during the third and last schedule to be held in

, which was to start in late February. However, sourced clarified that the subsequent schedule, too, would be held in Chennai only, with filming being carried on at the Padmanabha Theatre in North Chennai. In late March, the crew eventually moved to Mumbai, where the filming was held for nearly two weeks, mostly at the

slum. The

climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

portion was planned to be filmed at

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

, which was considered as "apt" for the "action-oriented" sequence, but was eventually filmed in Chennai as well, while the remaining scenes were to be canned in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

. During the first week of June, Ajith had reportedly completed his portion, with his last day shoot being held in Hyderabad, while sources confirmed that filming was still being carried on later that month in Hyderabad. Shooting was further extended, with the crew leaving for

again in late June for a ten-day schedule to shoot the pending scenes, including a lengthy fight sequence and a song, involving Premji and Lakshmi Rai. Despite earlier announcement that Ajith had finished his portions, a "special scene" featuring Ajith in a different look was filmed on one day during the first week of July. Principal photography ended by June 2011.

Post-production

''Mankathas

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

works commenced by mid-June 2011, and were carried on for over one month. Earlier, an animation sequence lasting about 4 minutes was being created by specialised technicians, while CGI special effects were included in a song and action scenes, which was cited as the reason for the delay. By early August, all actors but Ajith had finished

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

for their characters, including Trisha who on Venkat Prabhu insistence spoke dubbing for herself in the film, which became only the third film to feature her original voice. Rekhs, who had previously subtitled films including ''

'' and ''

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa ''Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, starring Silambarasan and Trisha. Jointly produced Elred Kumar, Jayaraman, VTV Ganesh and P. Madan under the bann ...

'', subtitled ''Mankatha'' during the first week of August, while Yuvan Shankar Raja worked on the re-recording, being assisted by Premji.

Music

The film score and soundtrack of ''Mankatha'' were composed by

, becoming his fourth collaboration with Venkat Prabhu and Ajith as well. The soundtrack, consists of eight tracks, including one

Theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

track and one club mix, with lyrics penned by Vaali, and

Gangai Amaran Gangai Amaran is an Indian music composer, singer, lyricist, writer, film director and actor in Tamil films. Personal life Gangai Amaran was born in Pannaipuram in Theni district, Tamil Nadu in December 1947, as the youngest son of Daniel Ram ...

and renowned poet

Subramanya Bharathi C. Subramania Bharathi Birth name: C. Subramaniyan, the person's given name: Subramaniyan, father's given name: Chinnaswami. (C. Subramaniyan by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subramaniyan C ...

's grandson, Niranjan Bharathi. As earlier done in '' Saroja'' and ''

'', a promotional track too was planned, which however did not materialise in last minute. Prior to the official soundtrack launch, a

single track Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, " Vilaiyaadu Mankatha", was released in mid-May 2011. The music rights were secured by

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

who had reportedly offered 10 million. The soundtrack album, following several postponements, was released on 10 August 2011 at

Radio Mirchi Radio Mirchi (also known as 98.3 Mirchi) is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the ENIL, EntertainmentNetwork India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiaries of The Times Group. ''Mirchi'' is Hindi f ...

's Chennai station, while two days later the team arranged a press meet, showcasing two songs and the trailer of the film. The album was reported to have achieved record breaking sales. The songs received mixed response, with their placements in the film being criticised, while the film's score was widely appreciated.

Marketing

Even before beginning the

, a short

teaser trailer A teaser (or more specifically teaser trailer) is a mini- trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release move or television show advertisement. Short in length, te ...

was shot on the day of the launch itself, since it coincided with Aadi Perukku and was considered an auspicious day. The first teaser was screened along with the film '' Naan Mahaan Alla'', another

distribution that released on 20 August 2010. During

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

2010, the first look

posters A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...

of ''Mankatha'' were published in newspapers. A teaser featuring the song " Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" was released on Ajith's birthday, on 1 May 2011 on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, after plans of releasing the film or the

on that day had failed. As the teaser garnered high response, the song was released as a

on 20 May 2011, creating positive media response. ''Mankatha''

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

were launched for sale after the 50th day. Items included exclusive sun glasses,

t-shirts A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are generall ...

, hand cuffs, and

pendants A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ' ...

etc.:- all on a

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

basis.

Release

''Mankatha'' was given a U/A certificate by the Censor Board after 10 cuts. Prior to submitting the film for certification, the makers themselves

bleeped A bleep censor is the replacement of a profanity or classified information with a beep (sound), beep sound (usually a ) in television and radio. It is mainly used in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong ...

profane words. One week later, the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...

issued a 15 certificate with an advice that it "contains strong threat and violence". Later, the distributor reduced violence in three reels and secured a 12A classification for theatrical release. During the late production stage, reports indicated that ''Mankatha'' faced "political pressure" following the change in government after the 2011 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, with sources claiming that the film did not find any buyers in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, since it was produced by the grandson of DMK president M. Karunanidhi. Cloud Nine Movies began negotiations with other production houses to sell the domestical theatrical rights, however talks with

UTV Motion Pictures UTV Motion Pictures (also known as Disney-UTV) was the feature film unit of UTV Software Communications founded by Ronnie Screwvala and Zarina Screwvala in 1996 as UTV Motion Pictures Plc., the film distribution division of UTV Software Communica ...

and

Gemini Film Circuit Gemini Film Circuit is a film distribution and production studio unit in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Career The company was founded by Ravi Shankar Prasad who also owned Anand Cine Services and it went on to produce and distribute many succe ...

resulted in failure. On 22 August 2011, Gnanavelraja confirmed that his production house

Studio Green Studio Green is an Cinema of India, Indian film production and distribution company based in Chennai. The company was founded in 2006 by K. E. Gnanavel Raja, relative of actor Sivakumar and many of their films feature his sons Suriya and Karthi ...

, had purchased the Indian domestic theatrical and the television rights of the film at an undisclosed record amount. However, in a turn of events, Studio Green cancelled the deal the very next day due to "various reasons" which Gnanavel Raja did not want to elaborate, in spite of posters in newspapers featuring Studio Green's logo. ''Times of India'' reported that Azhagiri bought back the rights, since Gnanavel Raja had planned to sell the satellite rights to

Jaya TV Jaya TV HD is a Tamil language satellite television channel based in Chennai, India. Jaya TV HD is also broadcast to the expatriate Tamil community via various media partnerships. Hemant Sahai of HSA had Jaya TV HD as his first client. Jaya TV ...

, a channel run by the

opposition party Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

AIADMK The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian Regionalism (politics), regional political party with great influence in the Federated state, state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory) ...

. On 24 August, Azhagiri announced that

Kalanidhi Maran Kalanithi Murasoli Maran is an Indian billionaire media mogul who is the chairman and founder of the Sun Group. He owns television channels, newspapers, weeklies, FM radio stations, DTH services, a cricket team (Sunrisers Hyderabad), and a mov ...

had bought the theatrical and satellite rights of the film and would distribute it along with Cloud Nine Movies.

Udhayanidhi Stalin Udhayanidhi Stalin (born 27 November 1977) is an Indian film producer, actor, and politician who prominently works in the Tamil cinema. He is the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu in the ministry led by his father, ...

was said to have negotiated the deal and united the production houses to release the film jointly. ''Mankatha'' thus became the first Ajith film under

banner as well as their first release after the assembly election. Actress

's Radaan Mediaworks distributed the film to Tamil Nadu theatres. Dhayanidhi Azhagiri announced that the film would be a worldwide release with

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

in English, simultaneously opening across Singapore, Malaysia,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada and many other parts of Middle East and Europe. The film was also dubbed into

as ''Gambler'' and released in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

on 9 September 2011. Noted Telugu producer Bellamkonda Suresh acquired the film's Telugu dubbing rights by late August 2011 and released the Telugu dubbed version across 225 screens, enabling the biggest opening for a dubbed version of a Tamil film. Ten days later, the film was a box-office hit in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

as well. The film became scheduled for a release on 1 September 2011 in order to cash in on the

Vinayaka Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi (ISO: ), also known as Vinayak Chaturthi (), or Ganeshotsav () is a Hindu festival commemorating the birth of the Hindu god Ganesha. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's clay idols privately in homes and p ...

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

weekend, before

Ayngaran International Ayngaran International is a film distribution and production company, based in the United Kingdom. Historically, Tamil films from India have been distributed to overseas theaters and for home media consumption by Ayngaran. The chairman of the ...

eventually finalised 31 August 2011 as the release date in overseas theatres few days later. In the United States, the film was released at 34 theatres.

Reception

Box office

''Mankatha'' released in about 1,000 screens worldwide and the film had a solo opening in

on 31 August. It was said to have collected 25.2 crore nett from 370 screens in Tamil Nadu during the opening five-day weekend, and around 30 crore nett in its first week. The film became the biggest grosser of the year as well as that of Ajith's career, while also garnering the second-highest opening after ''

'' (2010). In

city alone, the film earned 2.72 crore in the first weekend from 19 screens. The multiplexes gave it the maximum number of shows including morning shows in all screens. ''Mankatha'' recovered its cost of production in 2 weeks, making it the fastest film in recent times to turn profitable. At the Mayajaal multiplex, ''Mankatha'' was screened in all 14 screens on the first day, resulting in 70 shows per day, all being sold out, while Sathyam Cinemas reported a net of 0.34 crore from two screens for the five-day weekend. The film grossed 6.5 crore in 19 days in Chennai. The Telugu version ''Gambler'', which released in 225 screens. In

, the film was released in the original language in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

and

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated municipal ...

districts on 31 August while a dubbed version released all over the state on 9 September, opening at first rank, outclassing other Malayalam releases. The film bought for 0.6 crore in Kerala was expected to get distributor share of 1.4 crore. The Telugu version got high opening compared to other mainstream films It was successful at the

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

box office. The film opened at second rank in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, grossing $803,666 in its first weekend, with a per screen average of $19,602 (highest per screen average) claiming the second-highest opening weekend for a Tamil film. After four weeks, the film grossed 0.6 crore in

. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed $179,054 from 16 screens, opening at No.1 spot and No.4 in the all-time chart Overall the film grossed $1,104,911 in Malaysia in six weeks, and $268,533 in UK at the end of the third week.

, the distributors declared that ''Mankatha'' grossed 80 crore worldwide in thirty days, nearing the end of its run.

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...

termed the film as a

blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...

as well as the year's biggest commercial success. The film completed a 50-day run at the box office and was ranked as second highest grosser in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

behind

at the time of its release. According to ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'', the film grossed ₹100 crore at the worldwide box office in its final run. However, '' Madras Musings'' stated that the film made only 68 crore in its lifetime.

Critical response

''Mankatha'' received generally positive reviews with critics lauding Ajith's performance. Malathi Rangarajan of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' called it a "gutsy" and "engaging game of cat and mouse that springs no surprises", adding that Venkat Prabhu had "laid out a filling spread this time". Anupama Subramanian of the ''

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded by Rajagopal Mudaliar in the 1930s & currently owned by Samagrah Commercial Pvt Limited. It is published in Hyderabad, Telangana, by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited ( ...

'' rated it 3 out of 5 as well, claiming that Ajith "sparkles in his 50th film". N Venkateswaran of ''

'' rated the film 4 out of 5, saying "Ajith is the soul of the movie and the others have nothing much to do, with the exception of Arjun." and called it "a good watch, especially because of Ajith's baddie act." S. Viswanath of ''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by K. N. Guruswamy, a liquor businessman from Ballari and was launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printe ...

'' said, "Mankatha is strictly for Ajith fans, who has a wholesome blast, puffing, bulldozing his way and bedding belles by the dozen like there is no tomorrow." Pavithra Srinivasan of ''

Rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

'' rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, saying "If Mankatha works even just a bit, it's because of Ajith, whose charisma shines through. Watch it only for him. The rest really don't matter." ''

''s critic highlighted that Ajith "steals the thunder and plays the emotionless bad man, to perfection", further adding that he looked "smashing and his scorching screen presence is unmatchable", while the reviewer criticised the script as being "dull", and concluded " For die-hard fans of Ajith who don't have a problem with an unforgivable 2 Hours 40 minutes running time and juvenile comedy, this might be a treat. For others though, it's strictly average entertainment." Akhila Krishnamurthy of

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft * Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...

said, "The thing about testosterone is it can either excite or frustrate. There is no in-between. Tamil superstar Ajith's much-anticipated 50th film is a very "male film", no doubt. There's a heist, a few chases, gunfights, cusswords, three good-looking women and a salt-and-pepper-haired protagonist, who is naughty at forty. Only, none of it excites."

Accolades

Legacy

Google Zeitgeist The following is a list of products, services, and apps provided by Google. Active, soon-to-be discontinued, and discontinued products, services, tools, hardware, and other applications are broken out into designated sections. Web-based product ...

2011, a compilation of the year's most frequent search queries, placed ''Mankatha'' at 7th rank, becoming the only Tamil film to secure a place in the list. Sudhish Kamath of ''

'' included ''Mankatha'' in his list "Year of Anti-Hero" stating that "Mankatha earns its place here simply because it took a fairly dark genre like noir and celebrated evil minus the darkness" and also went to write that "this comic heist film is the best thing Ajith has ever done since Billa". Ajith's appearance, dubbed the "salt-and-pepper look", was widely praised, leading to him reusing the same appearance in most of his subsequent films. This look eventually became a trendsetter for Tamil heroes. The verse "Aadama Jaichomada" from "Machi Open The Bottle" inspired a film of the same name. The scene where Vinayak gets excited by the collection of money was parodied in ''

Tamizh Padam 2 ''Tamizh Padam 2: Police Athiyayam'' () is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language parody film written and directed by C. S. Amudhan and produced by S. Sashikanth and Ramachandra of YNOT Studios. A sequel to the successful ''Thamizh Padam'' (2010), the f ...

'' (2018).

Possible sequel

Shortly after the film's release and its high commercial success,

confirmed the possibility of a sequel, provided that

accepted. Sources also reported that Prabhu planned to use the initial script that he had penned before Ajith became part of the film. In November 2013, Dhayanidhi said, "That people are still talking about Mankatha 2 shows the grand victory that Mankatha achieved when it released. People can't forget such a movie and I want to make sure that 'Brand Mankatha' stays on in people's minds. The sequel might happen in future but we haven't started any discussions in this regard. The good news is that Venkat Prabhu has already readied the plot for the sequel.

Remake

A Hindi remake of the film has been confirmed by Gnanavel Raja of

. The cast and crew are yet to be finalised.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{Venkat Prabhu 2010s chase films 2010s Tamil-language films 2011 films Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police Films directed by Venkat Prabhu Films scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja Films set in Mumbai Films shot in Andhra Pradesh Films shot in Bangalore Films shot in Bangkok Films shot in Hyderabad, India Films shot in Karnataka Films shot in Maharashtra Films shot in Mumbai Indian chase films Indian gambling films Indian heist films Indian crime action films 2011 crime action films