After notching up back to back successes as the endearing and funny 'boy next door', Siva Karthikeyan is back with Maan Karate in a role which is akin to his previous ones but with more scope for action this time around.Siva plays Peter, a playful chap with very little worldly exposure and with nothing on his mind except his girlfriend Yazhini. He poses as a boxer to woo her, as she is an ardent fan of sports. But destiny has bigger plans for him and makes him register for a boxing tourney.Maan Karate combines elements like fantasy and the regular brand of commercial entertainment in true Siva Karthikeyan style. We also have the sporting angle with Siva being the quintessential underdog taking on a mighty champion. The film does provide quite a lot of fun in the first half with Siva Karthikeyan's typical antics, his mimicry attempts and his rollicking dance moves in the colorfully shot song sequences. The young man looks handsome in neatly fitting, trendy costumes and accessories, and looks the part as a dashing lead hero. The way he has improved his dance moves is unbelievable and there is an evident and effortless grace in his moves now. All the songs are lifted by Siva's energetic presence. And like a typical mass hero number, we have Siva and the song's choreographer dancing together to a signature move, in the 'Royapuram Peter' track.Hansika is pretty and cherubic as ever and looks gorgeous in the song and dance sequences. Other than that, she gets to be a loyal, unsuspecting and supporting girlfriend who stands by her guy.Soori plays a pretty hyper, easily excitable boxing referee and will please his hardcore fans in the limited time he has. The chemistry between Siva and Soori is evident in these scenes and they do bring about a few laughs. Sathish has a few one-liners to make a mark and effortlessly does so.The other actors such as Vamsi as the domineering boxer and Shaji as Siva's coach play out their roles in the required manner.Technically, Maan Karate is a superior product with the grand boxing arena and the massive scale in the final fight, catching the eye. The songs are a delight to watch thanks to Sukumar's lighting, the glossy visual treatment and the lead pair's attractive costumes. 'Maanja' and 'Un Vizhigalil' are the best of the lot but the movie is let down by the placement of these songs as you can preempt exactly when all the songs are going to arrive.Sukumar's work is also really brilliant in the movie's initial few minutes as he transports us right into the proceedings on screen.Now coming to the biggest highlight of the movie, Anirudh and his spellbinding work on the BGM score. The final boxing tussle is elevated several notches by Anirudh's quirky and groovy electronic score. The little training montage is another sequence where Anirudh rules with his orchestration in the background. You have many more scenes which have Anirudh's lovely tracks in the background. Each of his songs is welcomed with the whistles and hoots of fans. Maan Karate is another step in the right direction for this talented young musician.All things said, we aren't able to root wholeheartedly for the underdog in the final boxing tussle, and we don't make an emotional connect with him. The unconvincing way in which the boxing tournament is staged in the movie, may be a reason. Even with a funny title like 'Maan Karate' (meaning pulling off an escape act), when you are making a movie with sports as a key element, a certain amount of seriousness is required in the way the sport is approached and treated on screen. The movie also becomes overtly dramatic towards the end and this reduces the final impact.On the whole, the movie is definitely watchable, with some amount of suspension of disbelief, for the many segments of entertainment that it offers. Verdict: Siva Karthikeyan's entertainer to beat the summer heat

Thirukumaran's Maan Karate is a total disaster .There is nothing new in this film .The same old hero fights for heroine and finally wins the tournament and joins with heroine. Siva Karthikeyan is really bad .His acting won't even convince us. Is he thinking that he is the next superstar so that we will accept anything he does. Hansika is ravishing but she is also awful. The cinematography is great and the BGM and songs are really good Hats off to Anirudh. Vamsi Krishna is not even acting and tries everything that he is a villain but even though he looks like a boxer . What bugs me till now is Siva Karthikeyan on the other hand doesn't even know what boxing is but wins with just an hour's training . I can't believe I paid for this movie and wasted 2 hours .Please ARM don't think us as a fool . We are not in the 80's .Please don't waste your time and money watching this god-awful movie .Use Maan Karate and run away .The reason I am giving this movie 1 star is I can't give less than that . I want to give this movie 0 star .

Well what can I say about this brainless script. It would be a cross to bear for the boxing fans/ white collar boxers. I, being a huge fan of Rocky series and of course Raging Bull could not get through the boxing sequences in this movie (eg.. there ain't one good contender for the palooka-protagonist in a boxing tournament). Also there was a heavy inspiration of Chaplin's Boxer movie, yet was not up to the mark.I must admit that there is still a fair quantity of humor in the script especially in the first half which I did laugh out loud. The comedy at the boxing tournament were also laughable but I felt like the director made the whole tournament as a joke and so the Indian Boxing club. The Climax was horrible with nasty sentiments that totally knocked out the good essence. My verdict : If you are a classy movie viewer than stone-wall the movie at all costs. If you wanna just have some laughs the n watch it (Don't analyze anything) If you are a school kid and a huge-fan of the actor, you may love it

Maan Karate is one of the worst movies that i have seen in recent times. Thanks for the DVD, otherwise i would have died in the theater.Maan Karate is a story of care free guy who doesn't know about Boxing (what a pity, he didn't even heard of boxing) becomes a boxer to get his lover.This movie is around 3 hours of hell. The acting, story, screenplay everything is dud in the movie. I still didn't understand that how it stormed the box office.Siva Karthikeyan as usual do his style of carefree guy who roams in town. He has to change this kind of selection (if he seriously thinks about the acting), otherwise in a couple of years he will be out of the industry. He did somewhat justice to the role, but in some scenes he was too irritating.Hansika Motwani: She once again proved that acting is not her field. She is irritating from the introduction scene to the end.. She was really testing my patience. I don't know why she is getting so many movies despite of her poor acting skills and extremely poor dancing skills..Anirudh's songs were enjoyable but was actually speed breakers. I think the director used the songs to complete the 150 mins duration. Anirudh's background score was the major highlight of the movie. Songs picturization of the movie was also good in the movie.This is thirukumaran's failed attempt as a director.I would rate 1 on 5.Verdict: Poor show