Manmadan Ambu

Ambujakshi alias "Nisha", a film actress, arrives in Europe to spend the vacations with her friend Deepa, a divorcee, and her two children Viswanath alias Vish and Bhagirathi. While going in a taxi, Ambu recalls an early incident regarding her ex-boyfriend Madhanagopal, a wealthy entrepreneur. Three years ago, she was shooting for a film with actor Suriya in a bright park, and Madhan was suspicious of her relationship with the actor. While returning, he let Ambu drive his new car. Madhan advised Ambu to stop acting but she refused, leading to an argument that almost caused their car to crash into a smaller white car. Unable to bear any more arguments, Ambu broke her relationship with Madhan and walked away.

Madhan now suspects that Ambu may be having a relationship with her colleagues in the film industry. To end that, he hires detective Major Raja Mannar to follow her when she goes on a cruise for a vacation in Barcelona. Mannar accepts, as he needs money to pay the hospital bills of his friend Rajan, who is diagnosed with cancer, and who is being taken care of by his wife Mallika. Contrary to Madhan's suspicions, Ambu is loyal and virtuous; when Mannar reports this, Madhan refuses to pay him as his suspicions were unfounded.

Disappointed, Mannar, to save his dying friend Rajan, fabricates a story and tells Madhan that she is having a secret affair during her trip. In the process, he introduces himself as a manager of a security company to Ambu, Deepa, and Deepa's children, and becomes close to the group. While getting closer to Ambu, Mannar says to Madhan that Ambu's intentions are good, but the man she was being seen with, is of poor character. Madhan does not like what he hears and eventually breaks up with Ambu. In the background, Madhan's mother Indira, who has never liked Ambu, calls her brother to inform that Madhan has broken up with Ambu and that they should get his daughter Sunanda married to Madhan as agreed previously.

While recollecting his past as an Army officer to Ambu, Mannar reveals that he lost his wife Juliet three years ago in a car accident. Ambu realizes to her horror that the accident was caused by her during the argument with Madhan. Both of them decide to confront each other with the truth, but Ambu misidentifies Kunju Kurup as Madhan's detective, slaps him, and tells him that she loves Mannar. Meanwhile, Rajan undergoes an operation immediately after the chemotherapy, in an attempt to keep him alive. To make things worse, Madhan announces that he will visit them in person at Venice. Ultimately, Mannar and Deepa (who now knows that Mannar is Madhan's actual spy) stage a plan with the help of Kurup and his wife Manju to deceive Madhan for the final break-up with Ambu.

Madhan arrives at the place and various mix-ups and misunderstandings take place among the characters. Finally, Madhan realises that Ambu has fallen in love with Mannar and accepts it with a heavy heart. At the same time, Rajan recovers from cancer. Mallika calls and tells Mannar this with tears and thanks him. The film ends as everyone returns to India on the cruise, with Madhan and Deepa starting a relationship and Mannar and Ambu proposing their love.

After Unnaipol Oruvan, Kamal Haasan opted against reviving his home production Marmayogi, and signed on for a film produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin. While the film went through months of pre-production, Trisha, in December 2009,[8] and then R. Madhavan, in February 2010, were added to the project,[9] with K. S. Ravikumar being chosen as the director. Though early indications suggested the film would be titled Yaavarum Kaelir[10] or Karunyam,[11] for which poetess Vishali Kannadasan, daughter of lyricist Kannadasan was even approached to play a pivotal role.[12] The launch ceremony of the film, held on 3 June 2010, confirmed the title as Manmadan Ambu.[13] During the launch, Kamal Haasan said that prior to the shoot rehearsals were performed.[13] Haasan, along with Crazy Mohan, wrote the film's screenplay and dialogues.[14] The film also marked the debut of cinematographer Manush Nandan in Tamil cinema.[15]

Kamal Haasan worked again with director K. S. Ravikumar for the fifth and last time after a two-year break following these previous collaborations in Avvai Shanmughi (1996), Thenali (2000), Panchatanthiram (2002) and Dasavathaaram (2008).[16] Film shoots were subsequently held aboard a cruise liner from Dubai, and the film was shot across various regions of Europe including Paris and Marseille in France, Barcelona in Spain, and Rome and Venice in Italy. Parts of the film were also shot in Kodaikanal in South India; remaining portions were completed in Chennai.[16] 90 per cent of the film was shot abroad, and 40 per cent was on the ship MSC Splendida. French crew also worked in the film.[17]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Behindwoods	[18]
Rediff	[3]

The film's music was scored by Devi Sri Prasad and all the lyrics were written by Kamal Haasan himself. The soundtrack album was launched at a promotional event held on 20 November 2010, at Singapore Expo, Singapore, where the film's cast and crew and other celebrities attended the event.[19] The controversial song Kamal Kavidhai, had come under criticism due to lines about a woman's desire and for references to Hindu deities like Aranganathar and Sri Varalakshmi. Therefore, producer Udhayanidhi Stalin opted to remove it from the film.[20]

Though the Censor Board of India cleared the song Kamal Kavidhai penned by Kamal himself, it courted controversy after right wing groups protested against the lyrics of song as obscene. The song was later removed from the film.[20][34]

• Manmadan Ambu at IMDb 
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• Manmadan Ambu at AllMovie