Maamanithan is a family drama film written and directed by Seenu Ramasamy, and produced by Yuvan Shankar Raja under the banner YSR Films. It has Vijay Sethupathi and Gayathrie in the lead roles while Guru Somasundaram, Shaji, Anikha and others play supporting roles. The music is composed by Ilaiyaraja and Yuvan Shankar Raja, while the cinematography is by Sukumar.
Radhakrishnan (Vijay Sethupathi) is a humble auto driver, who is sincere and extremely honest. He is content with his life which revolves around the auto, his wife Savithri (Gayathrie) and his 2 kids. His kids study in a government school, and he wishes to improve their standard of education by admitting them into a private school. To achieve this, he promises a real estate businessman Madhavan (Shaji) that he'll help him sell all the plots, but gets cheated by Madhavan. The consequences he and his family face form the rest of the film.
The film opens with a shot of a few police vehicles approaching Radhakrishnan's house as he goes into hiding. The entire first half deals with the sequences that led to this moment, and the backstory of Radhakrishnan, how he married Savithri and who his friends are. While doing the same, the screenplay simultaneously defines the characters of the lead actors properly. While on one hand this helps us relate to the characters easily, it also makes the film predictable in the second half.
The film is entirely carried by the actors' performances. Vijay Sethupathi and Gayathrie have acted as a couple in so many films such as Super Deluxe, Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, but their chemistry here is so good that it doesn't remind us of their previous works. The star performer here is Guru Somasundaram, who plays Ismail Bhai, a close friend of Radhakrishnan. His performance in the second half is superb and moves you emotionally.
Seenu Ramasamy is someone who can create drama even out of thin air and that is evident throughout the film. The scene where Vijay Sethupathi breaks down to Guru Somasundaram and cries his heart out would straight away go down as one of the best scenes Seenu Ramasamy has conceived. Radhakrishnan's struggles after being cheated get resolved conveniently which doesn't help us to feel his pain. Those portions could have been well written. Yet, the writing as a whole doesn't seem coherent with unanswered questions that feel slightly incomplete.
The work of the art department requires a lot of praise. The production design is fantastic in the Kerala and Kasi portions, with a lot of hat tips to late director Balu Mahendra as well. Ilayaraja and Yuvan Shankar Raja create a beautiful, delightful soundscape that captures the atmosphere of Pannaipuram in Theni realistically. It must be noted that Pannaipuram is the birthplace of the Maestro as well.
Overall, Maamanithan has a lot of moments that you can cherish if you're revisiting the film. It is an honest and genuine family drama, thanks to the technical work and the performances.