Thiru Manickam is a Tamil film which is written and directed by Nandha Periyasamy. Bharathiraja, Samuthirakani, Ananya and Nassar are the main actors of the movie. GP Ravi Kumar, Chinta Gopala Krishna, Reddy, and Raja Senthil are the producers of the movie under the banner of the GPRK Cinemas and the distributors of the movie are Thirrupathi Brothers and Masterpiece Srichakraas Enterprises.
Thiru Manickam movie has cinematography done by M. Sukumar, editing done by Guna and the music of the movie is done by Vishal Chandrashekhar. The projected budget of the movie is Rs 8 crores and the official length of the movie is 2 hours and 2 minutes. It was originally planned to be released on 20 December 2024, but it was moved to 27 December 2024.
Contents
Reviews
Thiru Manickam, a film by Nanda Periyasamy, traverses a well-travied path in Tamil film, that of good Samaritans, good-meaning heroes, and emotional stories of how righteousness will make you cry. Its core is a poor lottery ticket seller, Manickam (Samuthirakani) of a Kerala border town who accidentally encounters a winning lottery ticket of 1.5 crore lottery tickets bought by an aged man, yet not claimed. Owing to his poverty and family circumstances, Manickam takes a journey to give the ticket back to its owner, which triggers a battle between dharma and despair.
Although it is already based on a very promising premise, the performance might also seem a bit trite and only good with the most sickly sweet. The novel relies more on familiar tropes: an upright protagonist, a speechless child to sympathize with, a foreign-returned villain (who is characterized loudly by Thambi Ramaiah) who is just the same old joke. Manickam drifts in this direction with its storybook coincidences and high metaphors, losing the simplicity of heart in his purpose, and praising didacticism instead of story.
Samuthirakani, who is known to play do-gooder folks in his films, does a low profile role that keeps the movie cemented. Meanwhile earnest in his portrait of a man who is divided between the obligations of filial piety and righteous purpose, the writing does him no service in the way of making him a rounded character. His wife, Ananya, Sumathi, is at first full of solicitousness, but immediately becomes a villain when it becomes clear that she must pay back the lottery money, a sudden and unbelievable metamorphosis into virago which, unfortunately, lacks all logic.
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Bharathiraja, in a brief part, makes a difference, and the cinematography can show the rustic nature of Idukki. All these can not hide the fact the movie has suffered the pacing problems, tonal mismatch, and sentimental approach, which spends most of the time in the lower depth range. Although well-intentioned, such as the viral social media reaction or the miraculous intervention of the Chief Minister are farfetched and unrealistic.
Thiru Manickam is a good intentioned film, which confuses good intentions with content. It is also preachy, both about the state of the world in general and about the absence of morality in particular, which also works against it: The final effect may be more of a sermon than a story, even amidst some dynamite performances and huge production values. What could have been an interesting, compelling (and tense) ethical film, passes into a foreseeable (and, ultimately, unimpressive) film. They are issued with good intentions, and delivered badly.
Cast
The sincere representation of the character, Manickam, played by Samuthirakani, is the foundation of Thiru Manickam, on which the storyline is built. Known to play parts which are both rooted and socially responsible, the actor is portrayed as a character who is torn between family demands and also the issues of an ethical life where he is emotionally controlled and committed. His body and his soulful eyes bring down to earth a scene which might otherwise topple into melodrama.
Ananya, in the form of Sumathi, the wife of Manickam, the caring and insecure wife. As a caring wife, to a destitute woman who begs the authorities to help her, her development shows the psychological tensions that could be caused by poverty. That transition comes out of the blue in the written form, but Ananya is able to charm us with her performance and in no time we are experiencing her mental torture as well. The old man whose lost lottery ticket triggers the story is portrayed by Bharathiraka who is a veteran of Tamil cinema. His screen time is not much, but his action is paramount, reserved, yet powerful, dignified and unprotected.
Thambi Ramaiah as Gurumoorthy, a returned foreigner, NRI, is a caricatured actor. His exaggerated expressions and outdated form of humor are there to provide a comic relief and do not fit the content and the moral the movie is supposed to convey. Even Nassar Bhai, the Muslim lottery vendor, is brought to life in one but heart-wrenching flashback and we realize more about the back story of Manickam and the morality that he partakes.
Convincing supporting acts claim by Ilavarasu, Sriman, Karunakaran and Vadivukakarasi further classify the family and social set up yet again. In that, Ilavarasu, in his turn, hits the nail on the head as the uncle of Sumathi, providing the aspect of the archetypal materialistic uncle of moralistic tales. The second half, coming right after the journey craziness, gives texture to the narrative with the bus driver of Sri man and the church father of Chinni Jayanth, but it borders stereotyping.
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Child actresses Baby Jaseena and Master Videsh Anand as Vanathi and little Manickam provide the much-needed innocence and boost the emotional dramatic tension. There is too much seasoning and talent in the power dynamic of the ensemble but it is hampered by inconsistent writing. However, the acting remains the emotional straight line of the movie.
Critical Reviews
News18 critic Kirubhakar Purushothaman rated the film 2 out of 5 stars, and criticised Thiru Manickam on its outdated narration and poor production, although the plot seemed a good one. The melodramatic acting and the routine writing by Thambi Ramaiah dim the shine of the well-constructed moral dilemma, and the inconsistency of characterization and the melodrama water down the emotional quotient. Even the good intentions of the director Nanda Periyasamy could not succeed because of the lack of any compelling moments to demonstrate that good subjects do not constitute a good movie.
Cinema Express’s Jayabhuvaneshwari B gave the film two out of five stars and said that the film was afflicted with forced writing and unrealistic scenes, excessive messaging. Although it does include a premise that can be familiar to most people, there is also misuse of character, unhumorous humor and condescending social gags. Trying to be a moving parable on righteousness, it fails to be more than polished glass, as it could be.
Abhinav Subramanian of The Times of India rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, citing the dramaturgical style of Thiru Manickam that was melodramatic and expected. The assumption, of Manickam on the hunt after a lottery ticket which is lost, is a minefield of hackneyed plot lines and improbable scenarios. You can tell that there is a larger story of poverty and erosion of the human spirit, that is never going to be aired, yet, at times, in the film, you sense that Samuthirakani, with his wordplay and the gorgeous lensing, has managed to make the best out of a bad script, there is nothing that will set your soul afire.
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Anusha Sundar of OTTplay rated the film 2 out of 5 stars, calling it preachy and idealistic about the idea of selflessness and saying the story was cliched and the viewer could not empathize with what they saw. The uninspired plot (cliches), the stereotypicalness of its characters (Thambi Ramaiah is an excellent example), fails to tackle the actual problems, and seems so rehearsed that the film seems tedious and somniferous despite Samuthirakani playing a respectable role.
Audiences Reviews
The audience responded to the movie very well because the movie received reviews of 8.0 stars out of 10 stars by more than 2700 individuals on the IMDb, and this is an impressive rating of the movie by the audience. Thiru Manickam has moved the hearts of the audience especially the family watchers with its message of honesty and truthfulness. A large number of user reviews are appreciative of it as an invigorating, emotional story that is created by a mix of morals and good films.
The large majority of the audience who walked in without any pre-conceived notion praised the movie with its powerful content, grounded acting and a message that was socially relevant, something that few clean cinematic movies can touch on in the modern world.
The best performance is that of Samuthirakani. According to the audience reviews, his role of Manickam is said to be realistic and heart-rending and some believe it was one of the best roles of his life. Ananya, who portrayed Sumathi was also welcomed because of her sensitive and emotional role of a conflicted but a supportive wife. Small parts also were also applauded like veterans like Bharathiraja and Nassar. Some individuals called the performance of Bharathiraja sensitive and believed that he was able to express his feelings by the way he spoke and used minimal acting.
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Various users wrote that the moral of the story behind a 1.5 crore lottery ticket is both so convincing and easy to relate to. The overwhelming majority of users praised it as a lean and well-written movie of the right length with heart, even though some of the small number of users criticized it as too slow and one or two of the comic scenes being a little stilted.
The editing, the photography, and the music were also received well in creating the mood without reinforcing the story. A few critics emphasised that Thiru Manickam is a must-watch movie among children to instill in them the principles of honesty, sacrifice, and moral life.
Lastly, reading the user reviews, this movie can be seen as a cool and an easy movie with strong messages, the narration does not have any complexities. Not all family dramas are equally enjoyable and entertaining and carry ethical lessons that cannot be outdated and still make it a movie that everyone must watch as a quality film.
Songs
Thiru Manickam has created a magic soundtrack that is a combination of folk sweetness, emotionality and lyrical grandeur. The album song is a worship-inspirational work of five songs on love, yearning, and rejoicing. The album starts with the optimistic folk-inspired song called Bommakka that is performed by Tippu and composed by Ilango Krishnan. Its contagious vitality and light-hearted rhythm lead to it being one of the highlights in the former case, that characterizes the tone of the rest of the score.
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The second one, aaraaro is a soft lullaby-like tune, written by Snehan and performed by Haricharan. The lyrical composition of it is soft, ebbs and tender and the music welcomes warmth and tenderness, an occasion of emotional stillness. A track by Raju Murugan, which features Vijay Prakash as a performer, called Odi Odi, gives the song a feeling of movement and urgency. The song gives the album pace and brings out the emotional climaxes in the movie with the frantic sounding of the vocals and the catchy chorus.
Snehan also sings the poetic lyrics in the fourth song, Anbe Mozhi, which has been translated by Shibi Srinivasan. It is a smooth, melodic and romantic song that has a soothing feel. It is followed by a short rustic folk song in Sinduri S and Karunguyil Ganesan, Vanam Thembi which is written by Sorkko. Brief, yet remaining with something rustic.
The five songs last only slightly less than 15 minutes, a brief and musically satisfied listening experience that is agreeably in line with the emotional composition of Thiru Manickam.
How to Watch The Thiru Manickam Movie
Thiru Manickam movie has completed its theatrical journey and the movie is currently available on ZEE5. Those who have not seen the movie in theatres can now view the entire movie online at a premium subscription. ZEE5 has acquired the movie to play it digitally, and ZEE Tamil and Zee Thirai have purchased the satellite rights.