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Critics Review
2.50
High on sentiment, and that's both its hit and miss!
A neatly established conflict eventually transforms into a family drama with vast potential. The emotionally charged second half goes overboard, trying to tear us apart by sandwiching back to back cringe situations without any breathing space.(more)
Source: Ashwin Ram, MovieCrow
2.00
Soori-starrer is underwhelming and overdependent on family sentiment
The complexity of that relationship should have been explored in depth or the film could have been turned into a light-hearted comedy with the child�s antics at play. When it comes to performances, Soori, Aishwarya Lekhmi, Swasika and Prateesh Sivan have done commendable jobs. Raj Kiran is apt as the �Lion� and the elderly man in the family and Bala Saravanan comes through with comic relief. Music director Hesham Abdul Wahab, who has delivered some fantastic gems in Malayalam and Telugu cinema, makes his Tamil film debut with Maaman. The songs in this film are par for the course and don�t stand out sadly.(more)
Source: Latha Srinivasan, Hindustan Times
2.00
Soori, Aishwarya Lekshmi shoulder a flawed melodrama
Maaman, at the end of the day, makes a case for this sub-genre of family dramas centring around a joint family set in southern Tamil Nadu. After all, a family is a microcosm of a society. If only that old bottle were filled with some refreshing content, Maaman might be remembered as something more than a film that made you cry and, at times, feel infuriated. In an early scene, as Inba is getting married to Rekha, Laddoo throws a tantrum, insisting that he must sit between the couple and that he would tie the nuptial thread first. It�s a demand that wouldn�t fly in most families. But what happens here might be the litmus test for the kind of viewer Prasanth Pandiyaraj wishes to appeal to.(more)
Source: BHUVANESH CHANDAR, The Hindu
1.50
It's 2025, but family dramas continue to slap women back into 'place'
Maaman unfolds strictly according to the writer-director�s will and never organically. Throughout the narrative, there are several points where it�s painfully obvious that Prasanth had no clear idea of what to do next. At such instances, Nilan is made to go ballistic, throwing tantrums demanding Inba�s presence. And when Prasanth feels Nilan has been overused in recent scenes, the emotional baton is passed to Girija, who either fumes (usually at Nilan) or performs some overly dramatic act, just to stretch the story beyond the 150-minute mark. When even that creative well runs dry, what better fallback than a good old-fashioned accident to push the plot forward? Prasanth, unsurprisingly, doesn�t hesitate to pull that trick also out of his sleeve.(more)
Source: Anandu Suresh, Indian Express
2.50
Soori leads an earnest but flawed family tale
There are other narrative threads. An elderly couple (Rajkiran & Viji Chandrasekhar) whose bickering provides some texture, and a fleeting glance at Laddu's actual father, who's a forgotten footnote. Maaman touches on interesting potential themes. The strain of integrating into a close-knit family, the subtle power dynamics, even a child's need for boundaries. But it rarely commits to exploring them with any real depth. Instead, it often defaults to another scene of the nephew being, well, a lot. (more)
Source: TOI, Times Of India
2.00
Promising ideas meet patriarchy in Soori's family drama
The nuanced performances by Soori, Swasika, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Prageeth draw viewers into the story, yet ironically lead audiences to sympathise with perspectives that contradict the film's intended message.(more)
Source: Janani, India Today
2.50
Aishwarya Lekshmi shines bright in this Soori-fronted melodrama that needed fewer detours
Maaman is a film that is based on the idea that Karan Johar popularised at the turn of the millennium, and one that Visu tried to subvert even in the 80s. For every "It's all about loving the family" there was a 'Distance makes the heart grow fonder,' and Maaman tries to do both in the same film, only to end up as a meandering mess despite having the potential to become this generation's Samsaaram Adhu Minsaaram. If only this was a film titled Athai, instead of Maaman. If only.(more)
Source: Avinash Ramachandran, CinemaExpress.com