Maanagaram

The names of the lead characters are not revealed in the film.

An educated villager comes to Chennai to attend an interview for a job in a BPO. Regina Cassandra is the HR officer there. Sundeep Kishan is in love with Regina since college and stalks Regina, but she does not have love interest on him.

On the day of the interview, Sundeep comes to Regina's office and is threatened by a few ruthless, rowdy men stating that if he stalks her then they will give him pain by showing a girl's face and how the men thrown acid on her because she didn't have interest on the men . Sundeep, in anger punches one of those men.

Sri passes the interview and goes to a bar with his friends meanwhile, Sundeep and the man who he punched are also in the same bar. Later, those rowdy men who blackmailed Sundeep, hires rowdies. Who wait at the outside of the bar and are ready to defeat Sundeep.

But luck for Sundeep, they mistake Sri the villager for the target, beat him, and snatch his certificates and phone. One of the rowdies throws the certificates into a taxi and keeps the phone. The taxi is a rental car owned by a don named P. K. Pandian alias PKP (Madhusudhan Rao) a bigwig. Charle is the taxi driver who leases the car from PKP because to earn money for his son suffering from asthma. Soon, he finds the certificates and gives them to the police station.

Sri wakes up the next morning and is shocked about the happenings in the city, he starts to hate it. He calls his friend (Tiger Garden Thangadurai), who takes him to his home. There, Sri freshens up and leaves for his job. Sundeep boards into a bus in which the man who he punched travels. His aim is to attack the man with acid. Sri unknowingly passes the acid in the bus to him, and Sundeep does out the attack. The police take Sri into custody as he passed the acid. Sri's certificates are also in the police station.

Sri lets Regina know that he does not want the job and that he has lost his certificates and will get fired if he does not produce them. Meanwhile, a gang of small time criminal or the rowdies who hit Sri, accidentally kidnaps PKP alias PK. Pandian's son Karthik using Munishkanth and then threatens PKP alias PK Pandian, then PKP then starts his car and then follow what they say.

After knowing that Sundeep punched those rowdies because they threatened him not to stalk her and if they'll throw acid on Regina's face, Regina sudden gets love on Sundeep. Pkp son lands there via a truck and the one of the rowdies comes to pick him up but between down by Sundeep and Sundeep calls PKP to tell his son is with him and gives PKP son to his police uncle, Neelakandan (Ravi Venkatraman) but instead he goes to Winnings ( One of the rowdies, a misfit came out of the gang due to PKP power) and Winning tells the truth. Neelakandan commands Winnings to call PKP and make him know his son is with him and then tell to bring the money, to share with Neelakandan. Dividing Money.

PKP comes there and so does Sundeep, while Winnings points gun at Karthik's Face. Neelakandan comes there and shoots PKP with Winnings, then Sundeep theaters and shoot at Neelakandan's leg to make him release the boy. Winnings came to the hospital but refuses to take money. Mean while, Charle the driver gets hurt by rowdies because they mistake him as PKP henchman, surprisingly Sri gets out of his innocence and beats down the rowdies who takes Beer bottle to hurt the cab driver Charle.

Then Sundeep picks Charle and Sri to the hospital. Sri's lost files are returned to his home address by the kind hearted head constable of Neelakandan's police station.Sri and Sundeep talking to their respective girlfriends is shown. Sundeep approaches Sri and Sri thanks him for the lift. Sundeep asks his (Sri) name ; As he (Sri) was about to say his name,a gang which was hired by the man whom Sundeep punched previously challenges them for a fight. As Sundeep and Sri stares at the new gang the screen cuts out to black.

In April 2015, Sundeep Kishan began working on the project being directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and produced by S. R. Prabhu's production house Potential Studios. Sundeep had earlier expressed an interest in producing the film himself, but later became busy with other commitments.[6] Lokesh had previously worked as a director in Karthik Subbaraj's anthology film project, Aviyal (2016), in which his short film Kalam was included. The story was discussed with associate directors Maharajothi, krisha,archana and gopi and Titled Maanagaram and revealed to be a dark comedy thriller, actor Sri and Regina Cassandra were signed on to play other lead roles in the film, with filming beginning later that month.[7] Actors Charle and Munishkanth were also subsequently signed on to play pivotal roles and the project was completed by September 2015.[8][9] The film was revealed to be based on hyperlink cinema with Regina's role constant throughout the film.[10][11] The film was shot and completed within a period of 46 days.[12] Potential Studios begun promoting the film in February 2016, but later postponed efforts until early 2017 to get a better date for a theatrical release.[13]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Deccan Chronicle	[14]
Sify	[15]
Times of India	[16]
Behindwoods	[17]

The film's score and soundtrack was composed by Javed Riaz. The album was released on 22 August 2016 as part of Madras Day celebrations.[18] Riaz previously collaborated with Kanagaraj for a segment in Aviyal.[19]

Prior to release, the producers held preview shows of Maanagaram in Chennai and its dubbed Telugu version Nagaram in Hyderabad.[20][21] Both screenings were attended by film personalities, who widely praised the film.[22] Maanagaram was released on 10 March 2017 and received positive reviews from critics.[23][5][24] The Deccan Chronicle called the film "an absorbing emotional thriller that is a must-watch", adding "with a solid story, deft handling and a seamless screenplay (despite a complex script), extracting the best of performances from the entire cast, picture perfect frames (Selvakumar), engrossing music (Javed Riaz) and crisp editing (Philomin Raj), Lokesh has weaved a captivating thriller which is not to be missed".[25] The satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay.[26] Sify.com also stated "Maanagaram is a gripping film that seizes your full attention" and that it was "one of most genuine films in recent times".[27] Similarly, a critic from The Times of India noted "director Lokesh Kanagaraj gives us an exquisite, even-handed thriller — handsomely shot, tightly edited and propped up by a grungy score — that unobtrusively makes its points while narrating a gripping story".[5] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote "The air-tight deliberateness of this structure is given room to breathe by the randomness of the characters, who behave in ways we don’t expect."[4]

The film became a commercial success at the box office, with screens being increased in its second week after it gained positive word-of-mouth reviews.[28] After release, several other Tamil film personalities including Rajinikanth and Suriya voiced their praise for the film.[29][30]

It was also dubbed in Hindi as Dadagiri 2 in 2019 by Goldmines Telefilms.[31]

The film is being remade in Hindi as Mumbaikar by Santhosh Sivan starring Vikrant Massey and Vijay Sethupathi.[33]

• Maanagaram at IMDb (IMDb)
• Maanagaram on Facebook