Review – Maniyar Kudumbam

Film: Maniyar Kudumbam
Director: Thambi Ramaiah
Cast: Umapathi Ramaiah, Mridula Murali, Thambi Ramaiah, Samudrakani, Jeyaprakash, Radharavi, Mottai Rajendran, Vivek Prasanna, Pawan, Yashika Anand and others

Cinematography: P K Varma
Music: Thambi Ramaiah

Thambi Ramaiah, who has made a mark as an exceptional character artiste and also a good comedian, has turned director with Maniyar Kudumbam, a fun-filled family drama that has more than one meaningful message for society.

Ramaiah has not only directed the film but also penned the story, screenplay and dialogues of the film. What’s more, he has even scored the music for the songs and written their lyrics. Apparently, the actor has done all of this in the hope that this film will lay a strong platform for his son, Umapathy to establish himself as a bankable hero in the Tami film industry.

To his credit, he seems to have done a commendable job in most departments and as a result, the film works. It engages the audience and keeps them entertained.

Narthanga Sami(Thambi Ramaiah), the heir to a family that was once rich, whiles away time doing nothing.

He rests on his family’s laurels, often selling off parts of his home, that was bequeathed to him by his ancestors, to make ends meet.

His family’s financial condition is so bad that has to sell off doors from his huge home to meet the monthly expenses of his family, that comprises his loyal and obedient wife, his aged mother, and his equally good-for-nothing son, Kuttimani (Umapathy).

Although Narthanga Sami is on the verge of turning a pauper, the villagers respect him, primarily due to the reputation the family enjoys. They know that the man, although lazy and naive, is not a cheater.

Apart from the fact that Narthanga Sami does not earn, he has one other major problem and that is he indulges in horse racing. The only blood relative that Narthanga Sami has is his younger sister, who is married to a wealthy man (Jeyaprakash) in a neighbouring village. She has a daughter called Magizhalam Poo(Mridula) who is in love with her maternal uncle Kuttymani.

Although Maghizhalam Poo wants to marry Jayaprakash, her father does not want to give his daughter’s hand to a wastrel. His decision is based on the reasoning that his daughter Maghizhalam Poo is a qualified professional who earns around 45,000 a month while Kuttymani is a jobless person, with no idea of how to make money. Moreover, he believes Narthanga Sami is looking to get his son married to his daughter so that he can start living off her salary and his wealth.

So, one day, when Narthanga Sami, along with his relatives and villagers, goes to seek the hand of Mridula for his son Kuttymani, Jeyaprakash insults them badly.

The insult is so damaging that Kuttymani challenges Jeyaprakash, saying he will turn into an industrialist in a matter of six months and that he will make Jayaprakash get down on his knees, and beg him to marry Magizhalam Poo.

Magizhalam Poo, who has always wanted to marry Kuttymani, helps him turn an industrialist. She suggests that he set up a windmill farm and points out that out of the three crores they require to set up such a plant, one crore could come from government subsidy, one crore could be procured from the banks as loans and the third crore could be generated from the public by making them shareholders in the firm.

Kuttymani takes Magizhalam Poo’s advice and begins work. The villagers, who have immense respect for Manniyar’s family, willingly invest money in the windmill and turn shareholders.

After collecting a crore, Kuttymani and his father Narthanga Sami decide to go to the city to finish the formalities of applying for government subsidy and bank loans. They hire a cab and take the money along with them.

However, half way through, the driver makes them both get down and escapes with the money.

Having lost the money, the father and son return home only to face the ire of the villagers, who now start demanding their money back. What does the family do? Do they manage to repay the villagers? Does Kuttymani set up a windmill plant and thereby turn an industrialist? Does he marry Magizhalam Poo?

Thambi Ramaiah proves with this film that he is not only a good actor, but also a good director.

The film is what one can call a proper commercial entertainer. It has a right mix of humour, romance, action, family sentiment and drama. The romantic portions between Kuttymani and Magizhalam Poo are interesting and believable. More importantly, the manner in which Narthanga Sami’s family sticks together, despite facing extreme hardships, makes it endearing. All of these work in favour of the film.

Both Umapathy and Mridula play their parts with conviction. Umapathy in particular does not look like a newcomer and looks promising as an actor. The youngster is in fine shape and looks very convincing in the fight sequences. He also seems to have a penchant for dancing and impresses audiences with difficult steps in certain dance sequences.

The film also has good performances coming from Samuthirakani, Jeyaprakash and Pawan.

The film has beautiful scenes that have been aesthetically shot. Several scenes are a visual treat to the eyes, thanks to some fantastic cinematography by P K Varma.
Lighting in particular is just fantastic. Varma is easily one of the plus points of the film.

Thambi Ramaiah, apart from delivering a neat performance as Narthanga Sami, also does an excellent job of marshalling his resources to produce an entertaining and engaging film.

Although Maniyar Kudumbam is not preachy, it does, in a very gentle and unintrusive manner, put across a couple of very relevant and important social messages.

One of them is that no matter how much property one has, one cannot afford to be idle. The other important point that it makes is how alcoholism can ruin one’s life.

On the whole, Maniyaar Kudumbam is an entertaining family drama that definitely works.