Mannan (film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Mannan'' () is a 1992 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
masala film Masala films of Indian cinema mix multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. They also tend to be ...
written and directed by P. Vasu. The film stars Rajinikanth,
Vijayashanti Vijayashanti (born 24 June 1966) is an Indian actress, producer and politician. In a film career spanning 40 years, she has acted in 187 feature films in a variety of roles in various languages predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, in addition to Hi ...
and
Khushbu Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian actress, politician, film producer and television presenter. She is known for her works predominantly in Tamil, besides Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a rec ...
. It is a remake of the 1986
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
film ''
Anuraga Aralithu ''Anuraga Aralithu'' () is a 1986 Indian Kannada-language film directed by M. S. Rajashekar. It is based on the Kannada novel ''Anuragada Anthahpura'' written by H. G. Radhadevi. The film was produced by M. S. Puttaswamy. The film stars Rajkum ...
'', which in turn was based on the novel ''Anuragada Anthapura'' by H. G. Radhadevi. The film was released on 15 January 1992 and ran for over 25 weeks in theatres, and was a blockbuster at box office


Plot

V Shanthi Devi, owner and CEO of Devi Industries in Madras is announced as the number one young industrialist in India. She is a rich and arrogant woman who rules her company with an iron fist. She lives with her father Viswanathan, whom she replaced five years ago as the CEO, and her maid Kannamma, as she had lost her mother 20 years ago. Krishnan, a kind-hearted mechanic working in
Bombay 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-m ...
, comes home to Madras to see his mother. Krishnan and Shanthi Devi meet at the airport and their first meeting ends on a bitter note. Krishnan learns that his mother is suffering from paralysis. Krishnan quits his job in Bombay and decides to stay in Madras to take care of his ailing mother. His family doctor recommends Krishnan to meet a renowned businessman for his job. Krishnan goes to meet the businessman and on the way, Viswanathan is beaten by thugs. Krishnan helps him and takes him to a hospital and discovers that Viswanathan is the businessman whom he was going to meet. Krishnan is asked to go to the factory only to discover that it belongs to Shanthi Devi. She refuses to hire Krishnan, but later due to her father's compulsion she recruits Krishnan as Senior mechanic. Krishnan befriends Meena, Shanthi Devi's secretary. Meena, unlike her boss, is sweet and warm, and instantly falls in love with Krishnan. Once Krishnan saves Shanthi Devi from a falling structure by lifting her, but she slaps him. He returns to her room and slaps her in private. She then realises the incident and promotes him as Section chief mechanic. In the meantime Krishnan is elected as the union leader, defeating the office staff candidate supported by Shanthi Devi. Shanthi Devi is not very happy about him as they have different views and ideas. They have frequent clashes due to this. Meena decides to marry Krishnan and reveals it to him. Krishnan likes Meena but advises Meena to discuss it with his mother first. Shanthi Devi, on the hand, decides to marry Krishnan, to take revenge on him. She somehow convinces Krishnan's mother to get her married and Krishnan obliges his mother. Krishnan's mother is not aware of Shanthi Devi's plan. Shanthi Devi expects Krishnan to stay at home post marriage but her plan backfires as Krishnan continues as the union leader even after marriage. Shanthi Devi changes a policy in her company which agitates all the workers and they go on an indefinite hunger strike, which is headed by Krishnan. Viswanathan realises that his company's image is at stake and takes over as the chairman. Shanthi Devi is angered by this move and begins destroying her house, humiliated at having lost to Krishnan. Krishnan's mother learns of their bitter relationship and, despite recovering from paralysis, immediately dies of guilt. An assassination attempt is made on Shanthi Devi by her business rival Sathish, but Krishnan kills him and saves her and ultimately she realises her mistake. Meena is later appointed as the new CEO of Devi Industries and Shanthi Devi remains a housewife to Krishnan.


Cast

* Rajinikanth as Krishnan *
Vijayashanti Vijayashanti (born 24 June 1966) is an Indian actress, producer and politician. In a film career spanning 40 years, she has acted in 187 feature films in a variety of roles in various languages predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, in addition to Hi ...
as V. Shanthi Devi *
Khushbu Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian actress, politician, film producer and television presenter. She is known for her works predominantly in Tamil, besides Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a rec ...
as Meena * Manorama as Azhagi *
Visu Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan (1 July 1945 – 22 March 2020), best known by his stage name Visu, was an Indian writer, director, stage, film and television actor and talk-show host. Visu initially worked as an assistant to director ...
as Viswanathan *
Goundamani Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated t ...
as Muthu *
Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...
as Parvathy Amma * V. K. Ramasamy as Meena's father *
Prathapachandran Prathapachandran (1941–2004) was an Indian actor, who worked predominantly in Malayalam film industry, though he acted in a few Tamil and Telugu movies as well. He known for the portrayal of villainous and character roles in over 300 movies. ...
as Raghavan *
Sharat Saxena Sharat Saxena (born 17 August 1950) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films along with Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. He has acted in more than 250 Bollywood films. Saxena started his career in the early 1970s and has mainly played su ...
as Sathish * Uday Prakash as Shanthi's production manager *
Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...
as Prabhu (cameo) * P. Vasu (cameo)


Production

''Mannan'' is a remake of the 1986
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
film ''
Anuraga Aralithu ''Anuraga Aralithu'' () is a 1986 Indian Kannada-language film directed by M. S. Rajashekar. It is based on the Kannada novel ''Anuragada Anthahpura'' written by H. G. Radhadevi. The film was produced by M. S. Puttaswamy. The film stars Rajkum ...
'', which in turn was based on the novel ''Anuragada Anthapura'' by H. G. Radhadevi.
Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...
reprised her role from ''Anuraga Aralithu''. Rajinikanth was paid for acting in the film. When
Goundamani Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The pair dominated t ...
was approached, he asked a figure higher than Rajinikanth; he ultimately received . The scene where their characters struggle to buy tickets at a cinema theatre was inspired from P. Vasu's real-life experience at
Shanti Theatre Shanti Theatre was an Indian movie theatre located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Built by G. Umapathy and D. Shanmuga Raja, and inaugurated in January 1961, it was bought by actor Sivaji Ganesan, and was owned by his family since. In May 2016, Shanti ce ...
. During the filming of another scene where Goundamani's character says "Naan inga vandhu ukaandhadhe thappu" (I made a huge mistake by sitting next to him), in reference to Rajinikanth's character, Rajinikanth could not control his laughter, resulting in the scene going through 21 retakes; it was ultimately filmed with Rajinikanth's mouth covered. Many scenes were shot in
Ooty Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and so ...
.


Themes

Writing for ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'', Kumuthan Maderya said, "At the heart of ''Mannan'' is the conceit that domestic violence, physical and emotional, is a civil war of attrition that inevitably hemorrhages both parties". In a separate article for the same website, Ranjani Krishnakumar viewed it differently, as "a fight between a woman in power and a man of the people, who is reluctant to take power into his own hands, but wants to steer his people towards whom he believes deserves that power, which certainly isn't her". The company where Rajinikanth's character initially works is named Ramoji Rao Ranoji Rao Shivaji Rao Jijabai Pvt Ltd., using the names of Rajinikanth's parents Ramoji Rao and Jijabai, as well as his birth name Shivaji Rao.


Music

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics were written by Vaali. Rajinikanth made his debut in playback singing with this film, through the song "Adikkuthu Kuliru". The song Amma Endru is set in Kalyani raga.


Release and reception

''Mannan'' was released on 15 January 1992, during the
Pongal Pongal may refer to: * Pongal (festival), an annual Tamil festival * Pongal (dish) Pongal, also known as pongali or huggi, is an Indian rice dish. In Tamil, "pongal" means "boil" or "bubbling up". The two varieties of pongal are ''chakarai pong ...
holiday frame. Sundarji of ''
Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...
'' felt the story and visuals were not fit for Rajinikanth, but Vijayashanti's rage was a total mal, which made him think that it brought her performance down a certain amount. The film ran for over 25 weeks in theatres, and Yesudas won the
Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. K. J. Yesudas has won the award the most times (5). The list Here is ...
.


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* {{Anuraga Aralithu and its remakes 1990s masala films 1990s Tamil-language films 1992 films Films based on adaptations Films directed by P. Vasu Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films shot in Ooty Tamil remakes of Kannada films