Manisha Koirala in Mappillai

Mappillai was an 80s hit film starring Super Star Rajinikanth, with the gorgeous ½ Irish ½ Bengali beauty Amala (she is now married to Telugu star Nagarjuna) as his wife. It starred the late Srividhya (the daughter of late Carnatic Classical doyen ML Vasanthakumari), in the pivotal role as his audacious mother-in-law.
The real life son-in-law of the Super Star, Dhanush, is now acting in the remake of the hit film. Keeping the original title, the film has former child actress Hansika Motwani (she was in the Telugu version of Billa), a debutante to the Tamil industry, as the wife and Manisha Koirala (Bombay, Indian, Uyire), as the arrogant mother-in-law. The comedy quotient will be played by Vivek (Dhool, Sivaji), who is known for his smart social issue based jokes.
The storyline involves the clash that goes on between this particular mother-in-law and son-in-law, hence the reason for Manisha accepting this role, which brings her to Tamil cinema screens after a very long time. She will be essaying a very powerful female character and it is one that will certainly look good on her CV, especially with so few meaty female roles written these days.
We hear that Manisha studied the late actress Srividhya’s role and has decided to give the role of the mother-in-law a much more modern image, compared to the original character, not surprising, as that was back in the late eighties. The question is whether will will get to see her in modern outfits or glamourous sarees.
Suraj who directed Dhanush earlier in Padikathavan, is wielding the megaphone, under Nemichand & Hitesh Jabhak’s production for Sun Pictures. The music will be taken care of by Mani Sharma, who already worked with Suraj in Padikathavan..
Certain changes have been made to the film to suit the younger audience, however the scenes involving the mother-in-law and son-in-law have not been re-hashed. Bearing that in mind, we hear that Manisha has given her best output so far, during the shooting schedule.
Lets see what the Super Star has to say, when the film releases later this year.
A film worth looking out for!
Words: Nish Raj (c) Thamarai.com