Mankatha and Muran: Crime pays and plays

Recently watched two Tamil movies: Mankatha and  Muran.
Two excellent specimen of modern day film making from Kollywood's ever growing talented stables.
Both tensely plotted, finely filmed and sharply edited sleek products...

Mankatha:

Hailed as Ajith's 50th role (Called Ultimate Star in Tamil film-world)', it is  a little unusual one for a main line hero to choose such a character with negative shades aplenty.
But then, when SRK or Amitabh can do it in their own ways, so can he.
The movie is interestingly held together by the talented Director Venkat Prabhu ( of Chennai 600028 and Saroja  fame). The main theme ( without spoilers!) is about the infamous controversy surrounding betting in T20 / IPL cricket tournaments and how a crooked cop and a motley group of double crossers plan a smart ploy to gyp the crime don who is managing it, of Rs 500 crore of black money for themselves..
As greed and one-upmanship go on overdrive, some unexpected twists and turns take place and movie depicts how even meticulously plotted crime games go topsy-turvy...
A cop on their heels is Arjun , playing his part to the hilt.
Two heroines and a vamp add some glamour factor  but don't have much to do..In fact the vamp( Lakshmi Rai) has a more 'meaty' role( Quite literally too! LOL) than Ajith and Arjun's consorts, Trisha and Andrea
 The end comes as a double whammy in line with the societal morals nowadays! Good dekho, paisa vasool film this! They say the songs are chart-busters, but I for one could not remember them after the movie got over..( Still hum 1970s Kishoreda numbers after seeing latest movies..Talk of longevity of music!!)

2. Muran:

They are two strangers on a road trip meeting on Chennai- Bangalore highway..Life has tumultuous upheavals in store for them when they confess about their private lives to each other.
Cheran, a soft and cultured musician caught in bad marriage with a cheating and uncaring wife but has a female friend who looks to be a  good future life-partner. But his wife  just won't give him divorce!..Another a rich spoiled brat with nuttier habits and lives life 'just for thrills' played by Prasanna, claims he has a bad tyrant of a father who if removed from the path, would do just fine for him. Cheran dismisses the very thought and walks off initially.
 But their paths would cross again after the fateful road trip and the psychotic young man Prasanna throws Cheran's life into a tailspin demanding for a Quid pro quo of mutually killing their troubles and avoid Police suspicion.

The movie is full of spine-chilling twists and turns and ends in a befitting manner. This is a good example of modern day thrillers and is a laudable debut by Director Rajan Madhav.  Cheran and Prasanna compete for acting honors and just about everything is fine here.