With the mother and 'thaali' sentiments done to death in tamil films, one wonders if the directors are now looking at other relations that they can exploit. One sure would think so looking at Manuneedhi, which is based on the strong bond of affection that exists between a man and his uncle. Strong performances by a couple of senior artistes and the occasionally funny comedy sequences prevent this otherwise familiar village story from being too boring.

Chinnakannu(Murali) has been brought up by his uncle Vellaiyan(Nasser) since he was a little boy and they think the world of each other. Vellaiyan showers love and affection on the young man while he in turn blindly does anything that his uncle asks him to do. So Chinnakannu follows his uncle's orders when he is asked to fall in love with Poongodi(Pratyuksha), the daughter of Muthuraja(Napolean), the well-respected old man in a neighboring village. Poongodi too falls in love with him but just when Chinnakannu is ready to wed her, Vellaiyan arrives to halt the wedding and asks Chinnakannu to abandon Poongodi and accompany him back to their village. He ofcourse does so without a dissenting word.

Most of the rules of a movie in a village setting are followed to the letter here. We have the luckless second heroine pining for the hero(though the issue does get closure, even if abruptly) and a 'panchayat' under a big tree where punishment is meted out. There is also no suspense about what is going to happen and no big surprises(we know right when Nasser orders Murali to fall in love with Pratyuksha that he is going to stop it and there is going to be a flashback that elaborates his reasons). But inspite of these, the movie is never boring and credit goes to the director for his handling of the movie. Awkward, outwardly display of emotions are kept to a minimum and the characters are well-defined.

The comedy is never intrusive and Vadivelu, for a change, succeeds in making us laugh at many places. The plight of Murali and Vadivelu as they run around in circles when being chased by an angry mob of villagers is quite funny. Even Murali shows hints of comic talent in a couple of places like this. The best scene is the scene where they deal with the calves after being drilled by Pratyuksha for milking more than necessary milk from the cows. Vadivelu's dialogs and actions in this short scene are hilarious and make you smile even when you think about them later. This once again confirms my belief that, if he is paired with someone else and plays off them, even he becomes tolerable.

The uncle-nephew relation provides a nice foundation for the happenings in the second half. The scene where Murali and Nasser end up in a fight is well taken. The flashback is not completely routine and provides a good enough reason for Nasser's anger. The screenplay takes the easy way out towards the end by introducing a villain who would like to kidnap the heroine but sets the stage for a nice climax. Murali thankfully keeps his discourse on non-violence short and the conclusion is quite touching(though the director immediately overdoes it in the next scene).

Murali does an adequate job though he isn't taxed too much. Pratyuksha looks pretty and suits her role. Acting honors though go to Nasser and Napolean. Napolean puts aside his usual, strong roles to essay a very likeable, white-haired, soft-spoken old man. One the other hand, Nasser(with a getup similar to Thevar Magan), is all fire, especially in the second half. Deva comes up with some pleasant tunes but the song sequences are nothing to talk about.