Maamannan Review  -  Fairly Engaging Political Drama!

Ashwin Ram

Maamannan is a political drama starring Udhayanidhi Stalin, Vadivelu and Fahadh Faasil in the lead roles. The film is directed by Mari Selvaraj of Pariyerum Perumal and Karnan fame.

Premise:
Vadivelu is an MLA in a political party in which Fahadh Faasil is the chairman. Udhayanidhi Stalin is Vadivelu's son who is forced to go against Fahadh after an outbreak situation.

Writing/ Direction:
The intent of Mari Selvaraj to convey equality ideology to the society reflects well in the film. The backdrop is different with refreshing elements to support it, but the core political story is a familiar one. The choice to cast Vadivelu in a serious role builds curiosity over the situations that are taking place. The writing is a mixed bag, it is so good in places and substandard at times too. The establishments are neat with a powerful flashback that helps the audience involve more in the subject. The underplay done so far gets a payoff by the blasting interval block and it is sure to impress every viewer out there. Despite the screenplay being so sluggish, there are frequently engaging moments that hold the first half well, and the whistle-worthy midpoint opens the gates for a stronger second half. But the potential is kind of wasted. There are a couple of rousing sequences that paves way for a solid cat and mouse quarrel. But the development is weakly done, and all we get is an usual and a flat political game in the final hour. The scenes towards the end are uninteresting and lack detailing. There are some unwanted fight scenes, and very less time is given to some purposeful points which end leaving zero impact.

Performances:
Subtle act from Udhayanidhi Stalin, good that he has been maintained that way, which is his strength. Vadivelu in a serious role exhibits an intense performance, and puts on a tremendous show throughout. Cakewalk for Fahadh Faasil who has convincingly played a single-dimensional villain role. Keerthy Suresh’s character takes the story forward, but her performance is over-expressive in many portions. Minimal screen space, yet an effective role for Lal.

Technicalities:
Technical values of the film overshadows the flaws in the story to an extent. Songs add value to the flow and are truthful to the content presented. First class background score by AR Rahman, he has given fresh tunes for all the scenes without repeating, but the film is a little too high on musical storytelling. Admirable camera work, especially the black and white portions look fantastic on-screen. Editing needs betterment in a lot of places, there are some nice parallel cuts that are useful for establishments, but the overall length could have been way lesser if the lags and a few draggy scenes were sharply trimmed.

Bottomline

The establishments are slow yet decently done with a terrific interval block that creates excitement for the latter. But the second half is middling, which eventually reduces the intensity and the emotional quotient as the film progresses.

Rating: 3/5