Director Sasi is known for his intense drama and sentiments. He also has a knack of selecting unique actors for every role in his film. Most of his films have given big breaks for many actors – both small and big. Sivappu Manjal Pachai is no different. The director is at his best throughout in this intense drama of love, passion, sentiment (on the higher side) and revenge in right proportions.
The movie starts with the bonding between Madhan (GV Prakashkumar) and his sister Rajalakshmi (Lijomol) from childhood. They grow up in their aunt’s house after the death of their parents. Madhan is an avid local bike racer and takes part in on-road contests held illegally. Rajasekhar (Siddharth) is an honest traffic cop, who happen to catch Madhan in one of the racing encounters. He arrests and humiliate Madhan in public view. Incidentally, an alliance is fixed between Rajasekhar and Rajalakshmi. This creates a beautiful conflict between the three characters and how they manage it forms the rest of the film. To add some action, we also have a villain who create some trouble in the end.
The film belongs to the director. The scripting is so tight and filled with freshness throughout. Right from the first scene Sasi builds a strong connection between the audience and the characters. He gets the sentiments also right in most places. Be it the anger between Madhan and Rajasekhar, the love between Rajasekhar and Rajalakshmi, the aunt and her affection towards Madhan and Rajalakshmi – there is something which keeps you interested in the whole proceeding. The film has lot of scope for action sequences too. Inspite of being a story based on relationship (brother – sister & between brother-in-law’s), Sasi manages to mix both brilliantly.
Siddarth is a revelation in the film – with a built-up physique and tough body language – he menaces the role of a strict traffic cop. The character of Madhan has lot of scope for performance and GV Prakash manages to bring out the right emotions. New find Lijomol is gracious and has a big role to perform. Kashmira (Madhan’s lover) on the other hand is pretty and emotes well. The lady who performs the role of Madhan’s Aunt is also very natural and convincing.
Technically, this is one of the best film from Sasi. The BGM is very apt and the songs are placed in the right places. Cinematography is beautiful and editing is crisp in most places. On the negatives, the film is long in the second half. It also gets little melodramatic in the end - that long dialogue between Madhan and Rajasekhar (after getting shot) was overboard. Some of the racing sequences were done using CG work and was bad. (I still don’t understand why our film makers struggle when it comes to shooting chasing sequences)
Like most of Sasi’s films, he delivers some message in Sivappy Manchal Pachai as well – though in a very subtle manner. The illegal racing and its role in chain snatching/political involvement etc are new for Tamil cinema. He also touches upon the way most men treat women, restrict their freedom in the name of love and affection and also questions why should a man wearing feminine dress (Maxi in this case) be seen as shameful ?
Sivappu Manjal Pachai is a film which ticks all aspects of a “Wholesome Entertainer” tag. Director Sasi proves yet again that he is the best when it comes to delivering an intense “Drama” without compromising much on commercial aspects.
Rating – 3.5/5
