The common man becoming a hero and saving the masses is a plot line that has been done to death.
And Nadodi Mannan, the latest film based on the theme, starring Dileep, directed by Viji Tampy, does nothing path-breaking.
The film swings like a pendulum from being serious to being childishly comic. This venture is something of a cross between CID Moosa and the Suresh Gopi brand of political thrillers of the nineties.
The story is based in a city that is in the stranglehold of a land shark named Pushpan (Sayaji Shinde), who tramples the poor to build malls and multi-specialty hospitals. Obviously, he has no morals and kills people at will.
The erstwhile king of the place, played by Nedumudi Venu, is pained by the lawlessness and cries out for mercy to the Almighty Padmanabhan. The omnipotent Padmanabhan sends his namesake as his representative in the form of Dileep.
The human Padmanabhan is a lowly contractor supplying people for political rallies, religious processions and filling up cinema halls when a superstar film is released.
He has come to Thiruvananthapuram for a political rally, which is a show of strength for the city's mayor (Vijayaraghavan) who is hand-in-glove with Pushpan
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