[SPOILERS AHEAD …]

Official Trailer:

First things first. It is so refreshing to see a Muslim character as a protagonist in a Kollywood movie after a long time. That too as a normal person than someone out to terrorize the public. I guess in the last 3 decades Muslims were shown either as terrorists or stereotyped thanks to Roja and bunch of Vijayakanth and Arjun movies in that phase for kick starting the trend. In Maanaadu, thanks to the director and writer, Venkat Prabhu, I got the feel the plot and the characterization of Abdul Khaaliq is written with the intent to undo the damage done by earlier movies. Events around Abdul Khaaliq’s birth, why (the intention) Abdul Khaaliq wants to save the Chief Minister, and how the bad guys, few cops, and politicians, conspire to frame the blame on the minority community highlight the current situation we live in – these are seamlessly folded into the screenplay and staged.

Equally fantastic is how Venkat Prabhu has taken the Time Loop concept and wedded it to a masala template skillfully. An interesting thriller and fun filled entertainer. Director takes the time to setup the premise, to ease the audience into the time loop concept. Without getting into quantum physics, he uses mythology to make us buy into the premise. Director doesn’t take the easy route of using background monologue to explain the time-loop like a physics class, instead he stages it beautifully with character interactions. Director smartly uses time-loop movie references, Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, Tenet, within a time loop movie!!

In the hands of a good writer, time loop premise gives lots of room play around with. Time and death are irreversible but with time loop since both can be reversed what is the impact on the person who is stuck in it? Will death of friends have the same impact if he or she knows they can be brought back? If you get multiple iterations, you can learn a new skill or figure out how to dodge the attack in a fight, like a video game’s multiple lives. With every iteration, you get new information, and you get to outsmart others by predicting their move. Maanaadu deploys and toys around with all these techniques. One of the highlights is the long fight sequence in an abandoned church – Abdul Khaaliq gets through the fight but for that he dies multiple times and each time he learns how to avoid the death and moves ahead. Editing cuts are superbly done and the last death cuts from church to the star hotel – creatively enacted and this will go down as one of the best action sequences. This fight sequence reminded me of the sequence from Tony Jaa’s Tom Yum Goong.

Where this movie differs from other time-loop movies is with the twist that comes around halfway through the movie. This in my opinion elevated the movie to another level by making the villain equally powerful (and yes frustrated too!!) and gave more fodder for the writer to play around with. Think about this: when is the last time we had an antagonist, who doesn’t want the hero to die and a hero who dies willingly. It is a thrill ride with both aware of being stuck in a time loop and they can outsmart each other.

There are few good mass moments I liked – Abdul Khaaliq emerging from the backside of Shiva’s statue, countdown sequence at the airport towards the end (so impressed how the initial event is smartly used surprising us), Dhanushkodi screaming kollatheenga thalaivare (don’t kill him), the Abdul-Dhanushkodi-Paranthaman stand-off, scenes where Dhanuskodi outsmarts Abdul. Every actor has done their roles very well. Yuvan’s BGM adds to the fun ride. But the real show stealers of Maanaadu are Silambarasan, S.J.Suryah, Venkat Prabhu (Director and Writer), and K.L.Praveen (Editor).