Chekka Chivantha Manam Movie Review: A Mafia Family With Principles

Mani Ratnam has a unique craft of experimenting with various kinds of genres ranging from political thrillers to romantic tales to inspiring biopics. He has never failed one bit in giving good films which are iconic for a very long time. The soundtrack of his music have been used by most of the Hollywood films as a background score courtesy of AR Rahman. Chekka Chivantha Manam is the next venture he is experimenting and this one is something out of the ordinary.

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The plot involves around Senapathy (Prakash Raj), the head of a crime family operating in Chennai and he stands by his principles during tough situations. The media brands him as a criminal but he is actually a Samaritan who goes to any extent to help a suffering soul. On the occasion of their wedding anniversary, Senapathy and his wife (Jayasudha) are in the temple for a ritual and suddenly there is a threat to his life which almost claims his life in the process. The main mystery involves around is who is the assassin who wanted to kill the leader of a reigning crime family.

The ball is set in motion when the three brothers of the family who are actually the sons of Senapathy come to know about the news and the brothers enter. The first one Varadan (Aravind Swami), a man with an uncontrollable anger handles the business in Chennai, Thyagu (Arun Vijay), the shrewd and a manipulative fellow handles the business in Dubai and the last one Ethi (Simbu), a rebel with a cause handles the division in Serbia.

The chaos ensues when Senapathy succumbs to a heart attack which brings the entire family into a pandemonium as to who is going to be the heir of this million dollar empire which was nurtured by Senapathy for many years. The suspicion of the murder entirely falls on Rasool (Vijay Sethupathi) who had a grudge against the family and Chezhiyan (Siva Anand) who was presumed dead after getting killed by Senapathy, the first half revolves around who is the killer of Senapathy. The second half involves the sibling rivalry where the one of the three brothers who is capable and strong will be the next heir of the empire.

The characterization of the actors is just pitch perfect and among the ladies Jyothika stands out perfectly as the wife of Varadan who is strong, determined and dedicated to her goals. Her role has stolen the show of other actresses namely Aishwarya Rajesh, Aditi Rao Hydari and Dayana Errappa who have been given less screen time in the film.

Santhosh Sivan has given excellent cinematography to the film and Rahman's music plays perfectly to the film as well. Aravind Swami and AR Rahman's longtime association with Mani Ratnam is seen here thoroughly and we can only hope that this goes on for many generations to come.

Mani Ratnam has used his usual craft of filmmaking in this one. It has a lot of western elements mixed with Indian culture which will be catering the youngsters of today who are enamoured with this confluence.

This film might be one of the best films in Mani Ratnam's films collection and it might take away most of the awards in the technical section of various award ceremonies.

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