Manidhan (’87) Tamil Movie Review

Manidhan is a Tamil movie released in 1987 starring Rajnikanth, Roopini, Raghuvaran, Sendhil, Cho and others. It’s the story of a person who is predicted to become a criminal (because of astrological signs as per his time/day of birth) and is treated like a criminal from a young age, but becomes a hero and savior, instead!

Rajnikanth can handle many people even without weapons – imagine what will happen if he is given a machine gun & few bombs! That’s what makes the climax of this movie DEADLY. Like the other movies of this period, this movie too relies on excessive stunts and fighting, especially in the end. Otherwise, it’s fine.

Raghuvaran reminds us what a gem of a villain he is, in this movie too. Cho’s political satires are quite enjoyable and Sendhil’s comedy – even though not as good as being when paired with Goundamani – is not bad. In this movie, Sendhil has an additional task of Helping Rajni defeat the bad guys! Bravo 🙂

This movie, frankly, did not need ‘love’ and ‘heroine’. Both were redundant. That’s why – perhaps – viewers are left wondering why the songs were needed in this movie, at all? Except the song that Rajnikanth sings on the deathbed of his sister, nothing else was needed. Maybe they wanted the actress to play some part in the movie; if not in the main story, at least in the songs.

The song I mentioned above goes like this,

“Vaanatha parthein bhoomiya parthein manishana innum pakkalaye”

Means: I saw the sky, I saw the earth, but I am yet to see a (proper) person! The feel with which it is sung and the truth in those words makes the song sink in our hearts! Rajnikanth becomes that ideal person in this movie, and maybe that’s why his movies were such a huge hit – in him, people saw the person they always wanted to be, but could not?

If not for the songs and those excessive stunts, this movie could have been much better. I think you can see it once, if you don’t have anything better to do. Even otherwise you may not miss much.

Destination Infinity