When one thinks of a story set in Srilanka, one would conjure up images of gunshots, violence, rivers of blood, war fields, dead bodies, lamenting and the silence of the dead.

'Mann' shows that there is also another side to life in Lanka, love and relationships, naughtiness and little children who amidst war cries are also seen laughing spontaneously.

In the Vanni area of Srilanka is a Tamil village called Kanakarayan Kuppam. Chandrasekaran is a gardener, whose daughter Kshana is in love with the landlord's son Vijith from school days.

Believing Vijith's love to be honest, Kshana gives her heart as well as body to him. As a result, at an age when she should be carrying books, she carries a child in her womb.Her boyfriend shows his true colors by rejecting her and taking off to a foreign country. Kshana grieves herself to death for her lost love. After 18 years, Vijith returns and how the son avenges his mother's death forms the rest of the story.

All the artistes who have participated in the film show no affectations in the least and their realistic portrayal embeds itself in our hearts to stay. In whichever way you see it, there is no way one can say that the hero and heroine are making their debut in this film.

Grieving for his daughter's spoilt life, Chandrasekhar rolls on the ground in misery, showing his acting prowess yet again. 'Kaadhal' Sukumar is usually shown in buffoon roles in our films, but in 'Mann' he has a totally different character. He has done a great job as the uncle who slogs to death for his sister's daughter.

The hero asks, "Can I tell you another poem?" in a sly allusion and the heroine says casually that, "Once a person has given her heart, it's nothing great to give her body." These scenes have been handled well by the director.

Instead of only bloodshed and gore, the cinematographer Rajkumar has given us some fabulous scenes of Srilanka's beauty and the highs and lows of life.

The happy, carefree days of school life, the splintering of relationships due to man's animosity, when a Tamilian tortures and subjugates another Tamilian, are some of the hitherto unseen facets of life in a country being torn apart by war and infighting. Director Pudhiyavan should be congratulated for his courage in making a film of this stature.

'Mann' is fertile.