''Manikanda'' is a 2007 Indian
Tamil-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 lif ...
directed by
Selva.
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'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 as Mahalakshmi (Maha)
*
Uma 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 ...
as Madhayaanai
*
Ashish Vidyarthi as Balasingam
*
Chandrasekhar as Veerasamy
*
Nalini
Nalini (Devanagari: नलिनी) is a female gender Indian given name, which means "lotus", "goddess Gayatri","mother of Vedas", "sweet nectar", "Amrit", Feminine "lily" in Sanskrit.''Baby Names''"Nalini" Retrieved on 9 January 2016. The name ...
as Mahalakshmi's mother
*
P. Vasu as Mahalakshmi's grandfather
*
Pasupathy
*
Malavika
*
Poovilangu Mohan
*
Periya Karuppu Thevar
*
Madhan Bob
*
Aryan
*
Singamuthu
*
Thennavan
*
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 str ...
*
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 graduatio ...
*
Priyanka as Maha's friend
*Jeeva
*
O. A. K. Sundar
O. A. K. Sundar (born 3 January 1970) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Tamil cinema and television. He is known for his antagonistic roles starting with ''Virumaandi''. He played the main character in the television series, ''Romapuri Pan ...
*
Satya Prakash
*Vijay Ganesh
*
Chelladurai
*
Nellai Siva
*
Kovai Senthil
Production
Selva who earlier directed ''
Karnaa'' (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
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed ...
'' (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'' (2005). During the time, Selva shelved other projects like ''Mamu'' (with
Sathyaraj and
Sibiraj) 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 alongsid ...
'' (2008) (with
Jeevan and
Priyamani which he later continued) and finished ''
Nenjil
''Nenjil'' () is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Selva and produced by Manish Nair, Bhavani Kanagasapay under the banner Candy Films Ltd & Gatpaham Entertainment Ltd. Navdeep pairs up with Aparna, while Vadivelu plays the comedian ...
'' (2006) with
Navdeep. 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.
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,
Na. Muthukumar and
Kabilan
Kabilan is a Tamil given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Kabilan Vairamuthu (born 1982), Tamil writer and activist
* Kabilan (lyricist)
Kabilan (born 16 May 1977) is an Indian lyricist, poet and actor who predominantly works i ...
.
[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