For his maiden film, Rathna Kumar has gone with an ubiquitous route, taking up a romantic - comedy subject that deals with a local boy who falls in love with a girl belonging to a well-groomed family. Aside from love, Meyaadha Maan also deals with brother-sister bonding and friendship.
Meyaadha Maan is an extended version of Rathna Kumar’s short film ‘Madhu’, and Vaibhav has supported him immensely, to translate his vision onto the larger canvas by giving one of his best performances ever. Vaibhav owns the screen; the gamut of emotions - the pain, the happiness, the innocence, the lethargy- he traversed them all quite effortlessly.
There aren’t too many high points, but a sort of consistent natural humour keeps you hooked throughout the film. The first half was more fun whereas the latter part of the second half gets a little soggy. The pre-climax argument scene and the final song looked a little force-fitted. Such cliches could have been avoided, especially given a first half as refreshing as this.
Though the whole story talks about love, the reason behind the love track could have been justified a bit more strongly. More justification could have been given as to why the heroine falls in love with Vaibhav and changed her wedding plans.
Priya Bhavani Shankar, a known face on TV, makes her big-screen debut with this film. She looks fresh and glowing, and dishes out a neat performance, although her acting in a few emotional scenes could have been better.
Vivek Prasanna is no less than a hero in Meyaadha Maan. He plays Vaibhav’s friend, and his parallel love track is very effective on its own merits. Indhuja shines in the ‘Thangachi’ song and a couple of other scenes where she gets aggressive. Rathna Kumar deserves to be praised for extracting the best from his team.
The pre-interval block was very well shot. It was a long, 5-10 minute shot without a cut, and the emotions in that sequence looked natural and free-flowing. Dialogues worked very well. Being both fun and emotionally laden, it gave an immersive experience.
Meyadha Maan can rightly be termed as a musical - the songs just keep coming, and they are pretty much the soul of the film. Both Pradeep and Santhosh Narayanan have done full justice to the script. Vidhu Ayanna’s cinematography enhanced the overall movie-watching experience.
