6 days ago
Manidhargal Review: A Short-Film Idea Uncomfortably Stretched Into A Feature
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Manidhargal is a story of a bunch of friends trying to get rid of the body of their friend, who died during their drinking session. Read our review.
Manidhargal released on May 30.
A bunch of friends, after a night of heavy drinking, wake up to find one of them dead. Panic-stricken, the four of them try to get rid of the body, and thus begins their car ride, and the audience's excruciating ordeal that lasts for 100 minutes. Manidhargal, a crowd-funded movie, has a core problem of being an inadequate idea for a feature film. The story is wafer-thin that would have suited a short flick as the sequences are redundant without any major development or revelation. Though Manidhargal is a relatively short feature film, it can feel exhausting to watch, especially as the scenes of grown men crying and panicking become difficult to endure.
Kaali (Kapil Velavan) is supposed to be the hard-boiled character in the film, who doesn't break till the end. Mano (Gunavarthan) is the crybaby, who doesn't stop his antics. Sathish (Dhasha) is a relatively sane guy who also starts wailing as the clock ticks. Samba Sivam as Chandru seems to have drunk something potent than Absinthe, because he doesn't seem to sober up. Arjun Dev as Deepan is part of the film because having just three characters would make the painful redundancy obvious. The four lead actors are like emojis that don't change their expression.
It's understandable that the characters are in deep trouble and guilt, but their expressions and lamentations are unrealistic. Even real-life murderers would come to terms with their actions and move on to fixing the problem. But these men are perennially stuck in a loop of crying and lamenting. Mano as Gunavarthan plays an incredibly frustrating character who just doesn't know when to stop. His over-the-top behaviour becomes so overwhelming that it's hard to bear, leaving you wishing he had faced the consequences instead.
Director Raam Indhra needed more layers and plot points to sustain this flimsy story. Instead, what we have is a string of contrivances. This is how the film goes: Friends carry the body in the car. Someone or something stops them. Friends cry. Someone or something doesn't do a thing. Friends cry. Friends continue carrying the body in the car. And someone or something stops them. Repeat. There is no progression in the story till the end. Having just a few ideas, like the reason behind the conflict and an open ending, isn't enough to make Manidhargal a truly deep or philosophical film.
Yet, Raam Indhra is skilfull when it comes to making great images with mundane things. With cinematographer Ajay Abraham, he creates distinct frames with innovative camera angles that are a visual treat. His creativity reaches its pinnacle in a song full of such abstract images created by superimposing various frames of the car, lights, and the road. Wish such creative energy was directed at coming up with more in-depth characters and plot points.
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