Manikyam 420 Review

With the success of some dubbing films, the producers are after hit films in other languages. Once a film is proved a hit in a language, the producers grab the opportunity and bag the rights to dub the film. Manikyam 420 is one such film. The original version is the Tamil hit film 'Tiruttu Payale,' wherein Jeevan, who earned fame among the Telugu audiences with his performance in 'Pandem Kodi', played the hero.

The present day youth are searching ways for easy money. This kind of attitude is dangerous and this, if not channelised in the right direction, also leads to a hike in crime rate. The director has given a message to the youth that this attitude is dangerous. In order to make the film a little more interesting, he has introduced the love element.

Manikyam's (Jeevan) father is a corrupt tahsildar. Manikyam, though a brilliant student, gets spoilt by snatching money from the bribes that are given to his father. When Manikyam has no money to spend, he goes to the regular payers of bribes to his father, to demand money. He stoops to the level of a vagabond with such easy money. This leads to a kind of perversion and anger. One day he breaks the head of his younger brother in anger and reaches his maternal uncle's house, who is a police officer. On the other side, there is a big business magnet who is a millionaire (Manoj Jain). His wife Rupini (Malavika) is a beautiful lady. Rupini's husband loves her so much and he feels that Rupini is his lady luck. But Rupini moves in a friendly manner with her husband's friend (Abbas) and enjoys sexual life on golf grounds.

Manikyam happens to see this from the terrace of his uncle's house. Once the watchman of the golf club videographs their intimacy and Manikyam grabs the videotape. He starts blackmailing Rupini and enjoys her money along with his friends, instead of taking it in lump sum. Once Manikyam goes on a tour abroad, and he meets Saranya (Sonia Agarwal) and falls in love with her. In fact, it is Rupini who arranged Saranya there, and she demands the video cassette in exchange for the address of Saranya. At this juncture, Rupini's husband gets a doubt that his wife is in trouble. He employs a private detective. Somehow, Manikyam is able to threaten Rupini again and he gets the address of Saranya, who says that she will accept his love only if he returns the videocassette and other evidences to Rupini. Saranya also tells Manikyam that she doesn't believe in easy money and tells him to work hard and earn money on his own. Now, Rupini's husband comes to know through the detective that it is his friend who is the culprit and kills him. He also gets Manikyam murdered because he knows his family secret. The film ends on a tragic note.

All the lead characters namely Jeevan, Abbas, Malavika and Sonia Agarwal have performed well. Sonia looks glamorous while the romantic scenes between Malavika and Abbas are sizzling. Comedy by Vivek is also okay. The fight between Jeevan and the goons before the climax is shot in a novel way on the race course. Even the death of the hero in the climax is something unusual.

The director has maintained good suspense till the end of the film. But it is unfortunate that the director failed to show how Manikyam was able to grab the videocassette from the one who shot it. Likewise, there is no reason behind the killing of the watchman in the overhead tank.

Nevertheless, the film deserves appreciation for its daring and unusual theme and for the way it has been shot. The director's grip over the subject is clearly evident in the second half, which has contributed to making this film a nail-biting suspense flick.

Cast: Jeevan, Abbas, Manoj Jain, Vivek, Malavika, Sonia Agarwal and others.

Credits : Dialogues - Sriramakrishna, Cinemato