Mudhalvan (1999)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Mudhalvan, directed by the renowned S.Shankar and with a background score composed by A.R. Rahman, would appear to be an awesome movie on paper. After watching it, I can say that Shankar had good intentions to crudely showcase the level of corruption + prejudice present within South Indian cities and communities at the time. However, the movie did not meet my expectations. So, what was good and what derailed this film?Pros:Performances: Arjun performs aptly, displaying the perfect "no- nonsense" attitude when dealing with the issues present at hand and also subtly handling his relationship with Thenmozhi. Raghuvaran is decent as the villain in the movie, delivering his lines with a pinch of harshness and irritation. Songs/BGM: Songs are hella nice. Kudos to A.R. Rahman for crafting such a nice background score. Cons:Performances: Koirala is wasted. The romance angle is completely unnecessary, as she doesn't really play a super substantial role in the film after her introduction (which is very good btw). Vadivelu is annoying as hell. I don't understand what Shankar was thinking when crafting this character. Everyone else was strictly average.Screenplay/Story: Solid message, but haphazard screenplay. Too many songs coupled with the "superhero" abilities of Arjun in this film, which takes away some of the realism that Shankar was trying to shoot for. The second half is a drag, as it is basically a useless fight between the corrupt politicians and Arjun. But that's a fairly standard feature in Tamil films, so I can't blame Shankar too much for falling into that trap.Cinematography/Editing: Action scenes + special effects were generic (to be expected from that time). Some scenes in the beginning went by too fast. As stated earlier, scenes dragged on in the second half. The movie needed to be shot crisper and tighter.Overall: 5.5/10. Watch it for its message and Arjun's performance.

One of the earlier Shankar thrillers and also one of his better ones. This movie is under-rated on IMDb. The popularity of this movie is reflected by the fact that it forms the basis for Shankar's latest movie, Anniyan, which isn't nearly as good as Mudhalvan. Not only is the movie thought provoking but also sheer fun to experience. Thats how all movies should be and thats what makes Shankar so special. Even though Raghuveran is a familiar face, he plays his role as the villain very convincingly. Manisha was however, pretty pointless and added just for the sake of having a romantic angle in the film. Arjun is the only actor whom Shankar has cast two times and this is without doubt, his best movie and performance ever besides gentleman. Each of Shankar's movies usually has a unique hero or first timer.

Every south Indian chills about shankar's film. Though this film seems to be novel work but lacks some basics regarding politics. Always shankar takes lot of attention on photography. He might have studied something about the current political strategies.Music is by A.R. Rahman. We can't criticize about his talent. Manisha koyirala doesn't suit very well in this film.The director has to show what really politics is?? Simply showing how one can do crazy things in a single day is ridiculous. Of course every one in the country has a vision to make their country corrupt free.Only music and photography part of the film is commendable. Rest of the things are crazy and simply ridiculous. Last but not least I am very much impressed by Raghuvaran's action.

** SPOILERS **A man is challenged to run the state for a day and he takes up the challenge and attempts to fix the mother of all problems (corruption) in just a day. He then becomes the chief minister and tries to run a clean government in spite of hardships. The message is that it IS possible to run a corruption free government.The message is tainted because of the super human qualities attributed to the hero. He is able to survive a gang attack after his challenge day as the CM. He personally "takes care" of a rowdy gang by fist fighting with them while the cops look over (in awe, should I add). Is there director trying to say that an average man without martial arts knowledge is incapable of running a clean government?The plot does move swiftly but is punctuated by the pace-breaking song and dance sequences. Tell me how Shusmitha Sen's cameo adds to the message or to the entertainment. It's just a waste of time.This is a Bond movie with 007 promoted to be the head of state. If you like action movies with grand guignol violence scenes, this is for you. Hey, you can even convince yourself that it's worth your time. This movie is average and instills in the audience that it is possible to provide a good government for the people but you have to be very good at self defense as opposed to be selfless.The good things are powerful performances by Raghuvaran and Manivannan. The minuses begin with Manisha and Arjun (the poor guy is just acting out his part) and some put-a-bag-over-me type canned embarrassing scenes involving Arjun's mom and dad.4 out of 10