‘Mankatha, Mankatha, Mankatha…’ this is the mantra that ‘Thala’ Ajith fans had been chanting these days. And, the D-day has finally arrived. Have all the hype and expectations of Thala fans, critics and other film goers been fulfilled?

We can say a big yes!

Yes, ‘Mankatha’ goes on record as a milestone movie for both Ajith and director Venkat Prabhu. The attitude and effort that this maverick actor put in has definitely paid the benefits! And, the duo has won the Game – ‘Mankatha’!

‘Vinayak Mahadevan’ (Ajith Kumar), a police officer, is suspended for his links with smugglers. He takes the path of a new style of life. He shows his love interests in Sanjana (Trisha), daughter of a hoodlum and a local big shot Arumugha Chettiar (Jayaprakash), who gets indulged in a cricket betting deal of Rs. 500 Crore during the IPL matches in Mumbai. Team ‘Vinayak’, and the men of Chettiar come together to defraud the big money from Chettiar. Vinayak and the four men, Sumanth (Vaibhav), Ganesh (Ashwin), Mahanth (Mahanth) and Prem (Premgi Amaren) also have their own secret plans of swindling the money by cheating and defeating each other. Prithviraj (Arjun), an honest police officer, is assigned the task of nabbing these men. With his team he gives a chase behind Vinayak, Chettiar and the gang!

Who wins the Cat and Mouse Game is the movie ‘Mankatha’!

Kudos to Ajith for his courage for being cast as he is looked in real life – the ‘salt-and-pepper’ haired and bellied middle man, and top of it, a very unusual attempt for any top hero, playing the Baddie!!! He shows it in all his frames that how much he was involved in making the movie.

“Evlo Naal thaan Nallavanaave nadikirathu…”, the inattentive face of Ajith mesmerizes you. And, you have more such typical grim-faced ‘Mankatha’ Ajiths in the film. And, he never fails to make the audience eyes glued on him! That is the power of his negative character!

Yes, Ajith’s screen domination is an unusual treat for his fans! ‘Thala’, you have made your 50th film ‘Mankatha’ a memorable one!

Arjun in a police role is no new thing. But, the veteran has made the character different with his body language and dialogue delivery. Responsible performance…!

For Trisha, the cute tall gal has tried to do something with her looks and it has clicked too. Jayaprakash has proved it yet again that he is the upcoming character artist eyeing for the top slot. He will go places. For Vaibhav Reddy this is one film that has showed him and the industry that he is full of untapped potential. Premgi, as IT guy, tries to tickle our funny bones, and to some extent he succeeds too. Anjali, Andrea and Lakshmi Rai add to the big cast of the film. While Anjali escapes with some scenes others fail to make that impression.

Venkat Prabhu scores! The passionate film maker has delivered yet another striking film with his team of boys. But, this time he has used that star power, and he stamps it that he is good in telling action-thriller too. Every frame speaks his hard work. A big pat on his back! He has a command over the script and the cast and crew.

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s tunes were already topping the charts and he contributed the most for the recent big hype of the movie. ‘Vilaiyaadu Mankatha…’ rocks! ‘Kannadi nee…’ written by Niranjan Bharathi, great-grandson of poet Bharathi, lingers on even after you leave the hall! Background score is mind boggling.

Camera by Sakthi Saravanan is a big plus for the film. The tone is very unusual. Cheers to the lens man. Praveen K L and N B Srikanth’s editing could have given more cuts for some scenes.

And overall, ‘Mankatha’ is a film of Ajith, for Ajith and by Ajith! ‘Thala’, under the able direction of Venkat Prabhu, has not disappointed by winning his 50th film. The duo has presented a class entertainment. Producer Dhayanidhi Alagiri of Cloud Nine Movies also gets appreciations for making this big production.

Worth waiting, worth spending and worth watching!