Director: Surya Prakash
Cast:Sarathkumar, Meena, Suvalakshmi, Manivannan, Vadivelu, 'Kovai' Sarala, Rajan. P. Dev, Anand, Indu

Maayi Recent tamil movies have tried to incorporate twists and suspense and surprise endings in an effort to lure people into the theatres. Among such movies, SuperGood Films Maayi stands out solely because it is so ordinary and unremarkable. The movie succeeds in presenting a memorable character but doesn't go much further. Satisfying fans of Sarathkumar by giving him a strong role and highlighting the good qualities of the man he portrays seems to be the only aim of the movie. There is almost no story to speak of and a flashback with an overload of sentiments is the only substantial portion in the movie

Maayi(Sarathkumar) is the well-respected, do-gooder in the village. He sees women in the village as his sisters and even conducts their marriages. He is a man who is ready to kill his father(Vijayakumar) when he learns that he had a second wife. But the father opts to kill himself rather than face his son and so, Maayi brings his stepsister Lakshmi(Suvalakshmi) to live with him. When the local MLA(Rajan. P. Dev) comes to him for support, he refuses and the MLA loses the election. But his son(Anand), who admires Maayi, marries Lakshmi. Meanwhile Bhuvaneswari(Meena), Maayi's sister's daughter, who comes to the village from Bangalore, wishes to marry him. Revealing his sad past, Maayi tells her why he can never think of marrying any woman.

Sarathkumar carries the movie very well on his shoulders. The close cropped hair, twirled moustache and casually tied dhoti suit him very well and even his posture while sitting or walking seems studied and invokes respect. Maayi becomes Maayaandi when provoked and Sarathkumar performs both sides of the character with aplomb. His reasons for always sitting on the ground and drinking only 'koozhu' are delivered well and are impressive. But his larger-than-life role results in the others in the cast barely making an impression. Meena and Suvalakshmi have no scope for acting while actors like Jaiganesh, Indu(who had such a key role in Ezhaiyin Sirippil) and Manorama have only one or two scenes.

Sarathkumar making such a strong impression may also be because the rest of the movie is so weak. Most of the movie is nothing but a string of incidents, each of which brings out one more side of the too-good-to-be-true Maayi. His visit to the collector's office helps explain why he always sits on the ground while Indu's wedding proves his brotherly ties to women in his village. We also have a corrupt policeman so Sarathkumar can flex his muscles in a fight sequence(the actor who loses his money in this sequence makes an impression inspite of having just this one scene). The flashback, supposedly a true incident from the past, is very touching. The plight of the mother is very sad and the moment when her son asks her to hug him melts our hearts. Though Master Mahendran overacts, the whole sequence is quite powerful. Though the reason why the happenings in the flashback should make Sarathkumar decide not to marry is not instantly clear, his explanation makes it believable. The same effect is not delivered by the climax. It seems rushed and too convenient.

The comedy is an unnecessary intrusion with contrived situations that end up in Vadivelu once again being at the receiving end of blows from 'Kovai' Sarala. The first sequence where Vadivelu visits a girl's house raises some laughs but the quality goes downhill from there. 'Kakka' Radhakrishnan also takes part in these proceedings. S.A.Rajkumar's tunes are pleasant.