Returning after a hiatus of five years, this time Boopathy Pandian has gone for a rural flick with Mannar Vagaiyara. The film has a huge star cast with Vemal, Anandhi, Prabhu, Saranya Ponvannan, Chandhini, Robo Shankar, Karthik Kumar and many others. How has the big star cast supported this rural flick? Read further to find out.
Mannar Vagaiyara is a usual rural drama heavily laced with sentiment. Debuting as a producer, Vemal is tailor-made for his character, one that he has played many times before. Vemal essays the role of a law student waiting for his results, while Kayal Anandhi does a good job of playing a chilled-out college girl. Her expressive performance more than make up for the lack of depth in her character. The film has a strong supporting cast in Prabhu, Jayaprakash, Saranya Ponvannan, Chandhini, Karthik Kumar, who take care of the sentiments despite many sequences being cliched.
The director has aimed at entertaining the audience by strategically placing humour, songs, sentiments and stunt sequences at regular intervals. Robo Shankar and Singam Puli entertain us with their sharp timing and smart counters, but in the end, one feels if they could have been utilized better. Yogi Babu and 'Bigg Boss' Julie play a cameo in the second half, which will surprise the audience.
The movie involves two families and revolves around their bonding and so, focuses on their decisions, emotions and feelings. If you are a sucker for family drama and sentiment, this movie might work for you, but for others, might come across as a tad tiring. Scoring the music, Jakes Bejoy does a decent job. The song placements act as brakes and could lower your involvement, but the wedding song that comes towards the end is aptly placed and grabs our attention. The unbelievable stunt sequences lowers the engagement and the artificial backlights are distracting and could have been paid better attention to.
Overall, Mannar Vagaiyara falls into the template of a rural drama that could have satisfied its target audience had the commercial elements been properly panned out.