Mankatha - An old chestnut (Too little too late)

I fail to understand the psyche of people which classifies mediocrity as anything more than what it is! And what IT is - is A BIG cliche!

Mankatha understandably had a ballyhoo like none of the other Venkat Prabhu handiworks.It had a big hero, a director with three (or four?) consecutive blockbusters, TRISHA, a usually awesome music director and a BIG mammoth banner behind it all. And for a supposed magnum opus it has... well.... nothing even close to greatness!

It's actually funny that I saved Mankatha for a better theatre, better seats - because you know a nice movie should not be ruined by bad seats and bad popcorn! Well.. the best part of my evening was the crispy popcorn. (sigh)

What turns a supposed opus to an banality?

• A screenplay with not even a remote sense of coherence - a dance, a hangover, random heroine(?) introduction (coz it is customary to introduce the heroine in the first 10 minutes of the movie) and infringement on a heist plan - all in the span of 20 minutes! Was the movie shot this bad or did the editing go sour?
• Wasting an unique selling point like Trisha - Premji Amaren has more screen time than our leading lady. And for Trisha fans ( like me) it just sucks.. And bringing in a slapdash bombshell like Lakshmi Rai does not compensate. At all!
• A grown man talking like a 10 year old - to himself .. playing with chess pieces.. making horrible galloping noises.. laughing at his own brilliance(???) ... AND saying "money money money" like half a dozen times.. in quick succession... every 15 minutes.. in THAT tone... WTF?
• Comparing Ajith to George Clooney! Puh-leeez!! Coz of what? The salt and pepper hair? And before you know Vadivelu will be compared to Will Smith - coz you know they are both of similar skin tone!! Granted Ajith looks waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than his usual fat slobby self, some comparisons just  cannot be made. EVER!  
• Having a star cast as big as Mayaandi Kudumbathar.. Oh wait.. I got a comparison too. What is as big as an elephant and weighs nothing - It's shadow! Which movie has a star cast like Mayaandi Kudumbathar and yet has no real purpose for any of them - Mankatha
• And the end? Did anyone even for a minute think anything otherwise? 

Well watch Mankatha in the theatre only if you have run out of options for the week end. Just make sure the popcorn's good :)