‘Manadu’ review: A clean entertainer that doesn’t disappoint

Looks like director Venkat Prabhu has given a winner. To his credit, he seems to have managed to make a film that, despite a complicated plot that is hard to imagine and hard to narrate, is very engaging.

The film begins with Abdul Khaliq (Silmberson) boarding a flight. He sits next to Sitalakshmi (Kalyani Priyadarshan), who learns that he is attending the same wedding he plans to attend. His intention is to congratulate the couple and wish them well; Abdul, however, plots to help the bride with her boyfriend, who is his friend Murthy (Premigi Amaran).

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As they land in Chennai, Abdul meets his friends Murthy and Syed (Karunakaran) and the four go to the wedding. Along the way, they meet a man named Rafiq (Daniel Anne Pope), who is desperate for help, as he wants to get away from chasing anyone.

A quick chain of development takes place and before Khaliq realizes what is happening, the chief minister of the state (SA Chandrashekhar) is assassinated while addressing a rally.

Just when a stunned Abdul begins to believe that things can’t get worse, he is killed…only to realize that he is sitting next to Sitalakshmi back in the plane.

It doesn’t take long for Abdul to realize that he is stuck in a time loop and each time he dies, the loop starts all over again from the point where he boarded the flight. Abdul decides to use the time loop to his advantage and stop the Chief Minister’s assassination. How he does it, it is about ‘Manadu’.

Venkat Prabhu narrates a time-loop story in such a way that there is no room for boredom. The story picked up speed as Abdul got off the plane and there was no looking back. Venkata Prabhu’s statement is so good that you don’t mind repeating scenes.

The first half about Khaliq – how the young man realizes he is in a time loop and learns to take advantage of the challenging situation he finds himself in. The second half sees an engrossing fight between Khaleque and Dhanushkodi (SJ Surya). , the Assistant Commissioner of Police, who is intent on murder taking place.

The way both Khaleeq and Dhanushkodi think of standing on their own feet to beat each other is extremely pleasing.

Another reason to congratulate Venkat Prabhu is that some of the dialogues in the film reveal that his priorities are in order.

For example, there is a sequence in which Abdul explains to his friends what is about to happen. In doing so, he stressed on the need to stop the killing, not only because the Chief Minister is about to die, but more importantly, using it as an excuse, some elements blacking out the entire community. Would have been He says the latter is the bigger problem of both.

Next, the film has two stellar performances and both come from the lead cast. Yes, Simbu and SJ Surya come up with great performances and match each other’s moves for trick. A similar silent contest is going on between the two about who will take the respect for this film.

SJ Surya, in particular, is excellent. His dialogue delivery and mannerisms are so delightful that what could have been a boring sequence turns into an overly enjoyable one in the end.

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s background score is superb. It accelerates the pace of the plot when required. But what deserves the most credit is editor KL Praveen, who edited a really complicated story and made it a massive entertainer.

‘Manadu’ is a great entertainer which has been narrated very efficiently.

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