Selvaraghavan's movies are never perfect.. I personally didn't like his maiden venture (as writer) in "Thulluvadho Ilamai". But he made us sit up and take note of him with "Kaadhal Kondein" and "7G Rainbow Colony". Again, these were not perfect movies: they had some bad acting at certain scenes, some loopholes in the story. But they worked, because Selva makes movies that you can instantly connect to. He is a time tested master at showcasing situations and emotions in a boy-girl relationship that other directors dared not to enter into (at least before his entry into Tamil cinema). And with "Pudhupettai" and "Aayirathil Oruvan", he scaled new peaks though both the movies had a lot of sloppy scenes.
"Mayakkam Enna" is a near-realistic story of a young and aspiring wildlife photographer Karthik alias Genius (Dhanush) who wants to make it big. Along the way, he falls in love with the girl whom his friend is dating, marries her, gets back stabbed by the man he considers as his idol in wildlife photography, meets with an accident and goes mentally unstable. What happens next makes for a gripping last 20 minutes.
Typical of all other Selva's movies, this movie has its share of positives and negatives. Addressing the negatives first, the screenplay is ordinary at instances and as a result, some scenes are not clearly understandable straight away. Maybe it is because the movie was wrapped up in less than two months from start to finish. But compared to his other ventures, the screenplay here wasn't the best.
Secondly, the first half, though is entertaining, I'm not clear on why it even exists. Its almost as if there are two separate movies: the first half where Dhanush falls in love with his "nanbanin kaadhali" :P and the second half where he goes mentally unstable.
Thirdly, the growth of Dhanush to the standard of an international photographer is shown in something like two minutes. Similarly, some other sequences are abrupt and leave a lot to be desired.
Finally, the casting of Dhanush (with due respect to the national award winning actor) is questionable. He does his role well, yes, but I thought the part where he goes mental could have been portrayed better with someone of more versatility (I don't know, Vikram, maybe, or even Ajith). Maybe the other actors weren't brave enough to play the role or maybe Selva didn't bother approaching them, but I personally think that the movie would have been better that way.
Despite all these, "Mayakkam Enna" is my Tamil movie of the year (I can't compare this with "Deivathirumagal" because the latter is an outright copy of "I am Sam"), because this movie has a soul. It is a modern fairy tale, told in typical Selva style, that tells you to chase your dreams and respect friends and family and be grateful for them. I am totally for it. That is exactly where Selva scores.
Dhanush, as usual, delivers a powerhouse performance and shows a lot of maturity in acting for his age. But, as mentioned earier, this role demands more versatility than even Dhanush's capacity but still he does a neat job of it. Kudos, Dhanush.
Richa Gangopadhyay (photo below) makes a dream debut. A role of immense scope and she scores! She's one of the best finds of this year, if you ask me. I was seriously moved in the scene where she breaks down while she cleans the floor of her own blood due to the miscarriage.
The other friends and family of Dhanush all almost play their roles to perfection. Some scenes are sheer poetry: like the one where Dhanush falls down mesmerised while capturing a photograph of a bird (the photo below), the scene when he requests an old woman to pose for a photo, the climax and most importantly, the scene during the end credits (dont walk out when the movie ends; wait for the end credit; the small scene in it is perhaps the best part of the movie).
All songs are good, though the "Pirai Thedum" song is definitely the highlight. GV Prakash Kumar does a neat job in the background score: silent when necessary. Sometimes, a music director needs to also know when exactly to be silent. GVP scores a bull's eye in that regard in this movie.
I have spoken enough about Selva in the first paragraph, so I don't think I must go into telling that he proves his worth once again. I was pleasantly surprised to note that he has almost minimized the use of (his erstwhile popular) crass sexual innuendos in this movie to a bare minimum. Way to go, Selva!
The cinematography is decent. The editing could have been better.
Yes, the second half reminds one of "A Beautiful Mind", agreed, but its more than that. It doesn't feel like a copy of that movie, rather it only complements it. Whether it was inspired from "A Beautiful Mind" or not, only Selva should answer.
Overall, if you have an open mind, you will enjoy this "Mayakkam Enna". Or if you expect a movie where the "hero" has to have three fight sequences, two romantic songs and one intro song and should jump 20 floors without getting hurt, you better not watch this movie rather than watching it and commenting all nonsense about it.
I'd give it 7 out of 10. With better screenplay i would have given it even a 9! Sorry, Selva, but thanks for this movie: just next time, take some time to make your screenplay perfect.
