Tamil Movie Review Mankatha - Cast & Crew

Vasuki Bhaskar is a popular actress and fashion designer who has appeared in various character roles in Tamil films, Tamil television serials, and ad commercials and has worked as fashion and costume designer in many Tamil reality shows, television serials and films. Born on September 18 in Chennai, Tamilnadu, Vasuki belongs from an elite and eminent family which is associated with the Tamil entertainment industry for years now. She is the daughter of famous Tamil film personality Shri R.D.Bhaskar. Her uncle is the legendary composer Illayaraja. She completed her studies from the Loyola College, Chennai, Tamilnadu. During her college days, she was offered by a leading producer who was also a good friend of her father to design costumes for one of his upcoming productions Kangalal Kaidhu Sei to which she happily agreed. This was the stepping stone for Vasuki and after her first venture she held independent exhibitions and fashion shows where she displayed and showcased her collections. Then she went on to act as a fashion designer in many hit and successful Tamil films and also appeared in small roles in few films also. She made her debut in the world of Tamil television with reality shows where she also happened to be the fashion and costume designer. Those shows were-Jodi Number One in Vijay TV for their season 1 & 2 and yet again Vijay TV’s Girls v/s boys.  Presently Vasuki owns her own boutique and fashion line and is known in the industry as the makeover master and she also co owns their production house Pavalar creations. She has also worked in some popular ad commercials like-Prince Jewelry, Nalli – an apparel line.

Born on 4th May, 1983 in Palakkad by Krishnan and Uma Krishnan as her parents. Before starting her carrer in modelling and acting, she did her schooling from Sacred Heart Matriculation school in Church Park and then BBA from Ethiraj College for Women (Chennai). She entered into film industry after making a mark as a model and winning several beauty pageants like Miss Salem and Miss Madras in the same year. In 2001, she won Miss India Pageant “Beautiful Smile” award. She got her first acting break in Tamil film Jodie. After that, she got her first lead role in Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002) opposite Surya and won critical acclaim.

Kainaat Arora is a model who eventually turned as an actress in Bollywood. She is a cousin of actress Divya Bharti who is no more alive. She was born in 1986, on 2nd December. She did modeling for Lux, Maruti and Cadbury etc. At one point she was paid the highest as a model in Delhi. While attending a show as a judge of Miss Kerala competition, she met few celebrities of Bollywood. This is when her debut into Bollywood has started. Kainaat has stepped into modeling as first step. Then she slowly started looking out for offers in films. She always wanted to start her career with a comedy themed film as she explained in an interview. She is one of the two hundred girls who gave auditions for lead role in Grand Masti movie. This is a comedy themed movie that was released in 2013. Grand Masti boasts of many promising stars in it including Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Vivek Oberoi and few more. Since this is an Adult comedy, it was released with A certification. This movie received a lot of negative reviews. However, it did well at the box office. It is the movie with highest box-office collections under 'A' category. In addition to Grand Masti, kainaat had acted in few other movies as well. She did an item song in Khatta Meetha 2010. She also did a movie by name Mankatha. She played a lead role in movies like Lailaa O Lailaa and Mogali Puvvu. Both these movies released in 2015. She is also a proven singer. She sang for Malayalam Film Industry. She is yet to make debut into Bollywood as a singer. In recent times, she has done an item song in Hate Story 2, which was well received by the audience.

It is sometimes fascinating to read about how film stars, especially in the South, get into the industry from totally diverse fields, and with no conscious intentions to be in movies. Andrea Jeremiah’s career seems to fit into this category. Her childhood ambition was to go for higher studies and get to become a psychiatrist. But music was always in the background, as she started learning classical Western piano when she was just eight, and she quickly showed her prowess when she formed her own troupe called Young Stars which also was a precursor for her later singing and music composing career.

Indian top model and Telugu and Tamil star Anjali was born in Andhara Pardesh in 1986. Acting was her passion so she started her career from short films. Small projects like short films and modeling assignments lead her to the silver screen. Director Siva Nageswara Rao recognized her talent and offered her the role of “Swapna” in Telugu Thriller “Photo” in 2006. Start of her career was from low budget and low profile Telugu films.

In 2007 a new comer writer and director Ram offered her a lead role in a Tamil movie which proved a blockbuster on Tamil and Telugu screen. Her best performance in the role of “Anandhi” awarded her with “Filmfare award for best female debut” and “South Vijay award for best debut actress”. This was the start of a long list of successful films. She has worked in more than 20 Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films.

She won her first “Filmfare award for best actress” and “Tamil Vijay award for best actress” in 2010 for the movie “Angadi Theru”. But this wasn’t the end. She got one more “Filmfare award of best actress” in 2011 for “Engaeyum Eppothum”. These consecutive awards made her a superstar of South Cinema. Her journey towards fame is continued yet. Many of her films are hitting the screen this year that can bring more success to her career.

Raai Laxmi or Lakshmi Rai is a famous South Indian actress and model. She was born on 5 May, 1989, in Bangalore, Karnataka. She did many ad-films before entering films. She worked as model for Fair & Lovely, Bru Coffee, Sarvana stores, etc., A director saw her talent and gave her a chance to act in a Tamil film. Hence, Raai Laxmi debuted with a Tamil film called Karka Kasadara. After the film she got many film chances and acted in numerous Tamil films. She acted in various genre movies like comedy, drama, and action, simultaneously. She played a comedy role in her next film, Kundakka Mandakka, and her other important films in Kollywood are Dharmapuri, and Nenjal Thodu. Her role as a lawyer in the movie, Dhaam Dhoom, directed by Jeeva, gained her critics appreciation. She won a Filmfare for the same film.

Venkat Prabhu is a multifaceted and multitalented and multidimensional personality in the Tamil Film and Television Industry. He is an actor, director and singer who acts and directs Tamil television shows and movies. Venkat Prabhu, commonly known as Venky among his friends and colleagues, has also rendered his voice as a playback singer and also has several independent singing assignments and albums in his kitty. Before venturing into the glamour industry Venkat Parbhu was an active member of a popular young Music Band that was quite popular across the South India. Venkat Prabhu has also worked on few Malayali projects also. Born on November 7, 1975, to an affluent Tamil family in Chennai and UK, Venkat Prabhu belongs from a family with rich lineage and the legendary music director Illyaraja is his own uncle.  Is father, brother, sister and other cousins are also prominent figures in the Tamil Entertainment Industry. After completing his education from Chennai, he started his career with direction but his first three projects failed to release and then he started taking up the character roles in Tamil movies and serials. After sometime, he again got a breakthrough and his directorial venture released and gained much popularity.

Dhayanidhi Azhagiri is a Tamil cinema producer and distributor, who is the grandson of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, ‘Karunanidhi’ and son of former Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, M. K. Alagiri. His friends and relatives also call him by other names like Dhaya and Durai. He is the owner of the Tamil film production and distribution company, Cloud Nine Movies. It was established in 2008 and is co-owned with Vivek Rathinavel and has its headquarters in Chennai. Dhayanidhi also has 50 % of the shares in a cable MSO-JAK Communications that provides its services to the districts of Thiruvallur and Chennai. Dhayanidhi did his education from The College of Engineering in Guindy. In 2010, he got married to Anusha, who pursues advocacy in Chennai. His works usually are based from Cloud Nine Movie banners that he owns.

Sakthi Saravanan is a talented, hard-working, vibrant Indian Tamil and Malayalam film director. The particular contributions of the talented director and writer came in the Tamil movies. He is born in the year on 20 November 1969 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu of the country India. He is an Indian Film Screen Writer and director. He has worked dominantly in Tamil Film industry and keeps coming up with some gratifying work. He is the father of one of the most famous producers of Tamil and Hindi movies, namely Venkat Prabhu and M. Rajesh Directorials, which were his directorial debut.

Haricharan Seshadri is an eminent Carnatic singer who gives his vocal in many Malayalam, Tamil, and other regional movies. He made his debut through the Tamil flick ‘Kadal’, in which he got the chance to sing two solo songs "Unakkena Iruppaen" and the title song "Kaadhal". In the same movie, he also had sung a duet song ‘Thottu Thottu’ with Harini Shankar. 
 

Mano (Real name- Nagoor Babu) is a famous South Indian playback singer. He was not only a great singer but also a voice-over artist, an actor, a producer, a television anchor and a music composer. He was born to Father Rasool (Musician in All India Radio) and Mother Shaheeda (stage actress) on 26th October 1963 in Satterapalli, Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, he joined the stage theater and had role played as many historical characters. As he had said in an interview “I have always been impressed by my dear mother’s talent and she has always been and will always be my inspiration.”

A native of Chennai, Premgi Amaren is a multi-talented artist. He was born on February 25, 1979. In about a decade-long career, he has been sailing the boat as a playback singer, a film composer, a songwriter as well as an actor, commendably. Hailing from a culture enriched family background, Premgi is the son of renowned music composer and singer Gangai Amaran and younger brother of film director and actor Venkat Prabhu. He is famous as a comedian in Tamil films. Maestro Ilaiyaraja is his uncle.

Ranjith is a very famous and versatile south Indian singer. He has a vibrant personality and can make the crowd tap their feet with his energetic songs, can make them emotional with his soothing voice and is a mass entertainer. He was born on February 21, 1977. He is a very well-known playback singer and has worked for many films. He is mainly working for the Karnataka, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam film industries. Ranjith was born in a Malayali family, in Chennai. His family belongs to a small town, Kalluvazhi, Kerala. Ranjith grew up listening to various types of music he stayed in a society where social-programmes were a trend. The localities used to participate in these programmes. Once, a family friend suggested training Ranjith for classical music.

Tippu is a playback singer of Indian cinema. He has worked in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam languages. He has lent his voice to over 4000 songs in the four south Indian languages. His voice for Puneeth Rajkumar went well with the audience. Shiva Shiva Hoguthidde, Hey Hey Paaru, etc are some of his hit songs. His association with music director V Harikrishna is very famous. Tippu has sung for Tamil music composers A R Rahman, Imman, Harris Jayaraj, and Joshua Sridhar.

Videsh is an Art director who works predominantly in the Kollywood Industry. He has worked in about nine movies as of now. His first art direction was in the film titled Saroja directed by Venkat Prabhu, which released in the year 2008. From there on, he worked with director Venkat Prabhu for three of his other movies.

Kalyan Master is an Indian choreographer who had contributed in various Tamil and Telugu films. He is one of the renowned choreographers in the today's industry. Kalyan Master also choreographed many songs for Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam films. He has been the part of over 200 songs in total for various films released in India. He is also the part of many TV reality dance shows like Jodi number one and for the show starred on Vijay TV named Kings of Dance. Kalyan was born in Chennai, India and started his career as a dancer in the film industry under his great-aunt Puliyur Saroja. He performed as a dancer in a movie called Per Sollum Pillai in the year 1987.

He is an ace choreographer in the Tollywood industry. Founder of IBO Dance Studio, he has also choreographed in Bollywood movie, Holiday, starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha.

Stunt Silva was born in Tuticorin, TamilNadu. He started his career as a male nurse after getting trained in Stanley Medical College. Silva worked as a Ward boy in Tuticorin hospital. Later he joined in Vijaya Health Center in Chennai by the year 1990. To maintain his family’s financial status, he worked in several sectors such as Peon in offices and dabbled in transport sector business offices. He then joined in the background dancer of the film under the guidance and advice of the Dance

Dhilip Subbarayan is a stunt choreographer, producer, and actor. He has worked in South Indian film industry. His main of contribution lies in Tamil film industry. After a long time of being a stunt choreographer, he made his debut in Sangu Chakkaram. He was born in Tamil Nadu. His father, Super Subbarayan also has served in the industry as a successful stunt chorographer, for many years. He showed interest in the action and fast lifestyle which is practiced. Like his father, he also dreamed of being in the industry and started working in many movies. He was first noticed in ‘Aaranya Kaandam’ in the year 2011. The movie was a full action phased based on the life of the gangster. The movie was a huge hit and received a world première at the South Asian International Film Festival in the city of New York. He had continued his working with many big and small budget movies in Tamil and Malayalam movies. The movies include Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, Arima Nambi, Puli, and the latest movie Theri. In 2013, he turned himself into a produced and produced Anjala. T

Ajith Kumar is a prominent Tamil film actor, model, racing driver and philanthropist. He was born on May 1, 1971, in Hyderabad. In 1986, he studied at Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School but dropped out before finishing higher secondary. He worked as a 2-wheeler auto mechanic and got a license so he can satisfy his fondness of bike and car racing. When he turned 18, he took a job to support his racing career. Occasionally, Ajith also did ads and television commercials.

Arjun Sarja was born as Srinivasa Sarja. He is an Indian film director as well as an actor. Arjun Sarja was born on 15th of August in the year 1964 to a Kannada film actor Shakti Prasad and an art teacher Lakshmi, in Mysore, Karnataka. He also had an elder brother. Arjun Sarja's father always disagreed in letting him enter the film world as he himself has been an experienced actor and he did not want his son get into an acting career.

Vijay Vasanth is an Indian film actor, known for his performance in Tamil films. He has acted in many Tamil movies which were appreciated by film critics and trade pundits. He is known for his role in movies like Chennai 600028, Saroja, Thozha, Naadodigal, etc. in which the viewers appreciated his characters. He was born on 10 May 1983 in Nagercoil to an entrepreneur business family. His father is a renowned business tycoon in South India and owns ‘Vasanth & Co‘, a largest durable goods retail chains in Tamil Nadu. His father is H. Vasanthakumar who is also a renowned politician and owns a TV channel ‘Vasanth TV’. Needless to say that his father’s popularity made Vijay Vasanth a popular figure in Tamil Nadu, but yet he had chosen cinema and modeling as his career. The actor-cum-model made his debut in the year 2007 with Venkat Prabhu's film ‘Chennai 600028’ which was a commercial success. In this movie, he played the role cricket team member. The film was based on street cricket played in India, and the film was a multi-star movie.

Ashwin Kakumannu is a Tamil film actor born on 5 July 1987 in Chennai. He started his career through the movie ‘Nadunisi Naaygal’ in 2011. Ashwin is popular for his role in “Mankatha”, directed by Venkat Prabhu; the film is an action thriller. Initially, he worked on a print ad for Coke, but the ad didn’t come out. He also has worked on an Airtel ad with Swathi Reddy. Ashwin also has an impressive business card ‘Ashwin is who’ that features his pictures in different avatars. The first audition of Ashwin was for a role in the film ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa’, but it turned out to be unsuccessful for him. Later ‘Mankatha’ director Venkat Prabhu was impressed by a short film that Ashwin had acted and directed himself. Thus, he was signed to portray the role of a cop in that movie. “Mankatha,” released in August 2011 brought critical as well as commercial acclaim with Ashwin gaining the much-needed recognition among the public. He later featured in a role of a young scientist alongside Shruthi Hassan and Suriya in ‘7aum Arivu’. He also played a small supporting role in Gautham Menon’s “Ekk Deewana Tha”. Finally in 2013,

Mahat Raghavendra is a Tamil actor born on 18 February 1987. He completed his degree from Hindustan College of Arts and Science. Mahat was born in Chennai. He started his career with a minor role under actor-director Silambarasan for the film, Vallavan. He debuted with this in the year 2006. Initially, he was making his debut with a Tamil movie, but the venture never took off.

V Jayaprakash is a Tamil film actor and producer, known for his production of “Gopala Gopala,” “Porkkaalam,” “Thavasi,” “April Maadhathil,” and “Julie Ganapathi,” among many others. Jayaprakash has also featured in more than 50 movies, including Tamil and Malayalam. Jayaprakash started off with productions of various films right from the beginning of the millennium decade, and is the owner of the production house, “GJ Banner.” 2007 saw Jayaprakash cast in the Tamil director, Cheran’s “Maya Kannadi,” which saw the inception of his career as an actor. Consequently, Jayaprakash featured in various movies in memorable supporting roles such as in Pandiraj’s “Pasanga,” and other films such as “Moodar Koodam,” “Yuddham Sei,” “Naadodigal,” “Mankatha,” and “Naan Mahaan Alla.” Born in the town of Sirkazhi in Tamil Nadu, Jayaprakash didn’t pursue acting or producing films, as a career. His financial constraints saw him undertake small business ventures such as owning a dairy farm, operating a petrol firm and owning a billiards parlor.

Vaibhav Reddy is the son of a prominent director of Telugu films, A. Kodandarami Reddy, and is an actor himself by profession. He hails from Hyderabad and has studied at Cambridge Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai, as well as from the famous St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai. He did his training as an actor at the Asha Chandra School of Acting. 

Bio coming soon...