It is not that Prabhudeva isn’t convincing as a cop. In Pon Manickavel, we are left with a one-note villain for two-thirds of the film, and one other one-note villain who is shoehorned into the last act, and they are so ineffective that it robs even the semblance of sheen from the titular cop’s characterisation. Also, the strength of villains is what determines the efficacy of a cop. However, just like every other twist in Pon Manickavel, the predictability of it all sounds the death knell of that arc. Of course, there is a twist at the end that ties all these issues together. In fact, there is a supporting role, played by Madras-fame Charles Vinoth, who does a lot more police work than Pon Manickavel.
The less said about the investigations the better. It almost feels like the filmmaker confused slowness to style. There is a sense of dreamy languor in almost every character, their body language, and dialogue delivery. There are no more than five characters in a particular scene. Apart from that one exam hall scene, Nivetha’s scenes are only relegated to the confines of the house. With the late actor-director Mahendran featuring in a thankless cameo, we know that the film was before the pandemic, and yet, Pon Manickavel feels like a quick lockdown film. They are so predictable that it is almost illegal for an investigation thriller to be this formulaic. None of the twists are half as thrilling as the makers expect them to be. This surface-level exploration of novelty does more harm than good to Pon Manickavel because the cliches that follow are exasperating. Also, just like how the film goes nowhere for a long time, Anbarasi’s “ambition” is just a checkbox, and there is really nothing that the filmmaker does with it, and she is reduced to two songs and one scene.Ĭast: Prabhudheva, Nivetha Pethuraj, Suresh Menon, Mahendran We can’t really blame him because there is nothing that happens for a long time in this film. The investigation is so lethargic that one of his subordinates is always on the verge of losing it. A murder that actually made senior officials bring Pon Manickavel out of semi-retirement and thrust the investigation on his disinterested shoulders. When was the last time we saw a filmmaker show the wife of a police officer having any ambition of her own? In fact, the film also shows Prabhudeva’s Pon Manickavel as someone who would stay outside his wife’s exam hall and wait for her to complete the exam instead of zooming around the city trying to solve a high-profile murder. When we first meet Nivetha Pethuraj’s Anbarasi in Pon Manickavel, she is on a video call with her cop husband, and is holding a TNPSC book.