Mini Studio’s Mark Antony (dubbed from the Tamil film of the same name; UA) is a science-fiction action-comedy film.
Scientist Chiranjeevi (Selvaraghavan) invents a telephone in 1975, which enables users to make calls in the past timeline once a day, and alter history.
Meanwhile, Antony (Vishal) and Jackie Pandian (S.J. Suryah) are bosom pals and gangsters in Madras. Their enemy, Ekambaram (Sunil), decides to avenge his brother’s murder at the hands of Antony. Ekambaram kills Antony in a club. The killing results in the death of scientist Chiranjeevi too, who is present at the same club. Jackie Pandian now becomes the kingpin and adopts Antony’s son, Mark Antony who is still a kid.
Twenty years later, in 1995, Mark Antony (Vishal) is a car mechanic. He has grown up with hatred for his father as he believes that his father had killed his mother, Vedhavalli (Abhinaya). One day, Mark finds Chiranjeevi’s invention, the unique telephone, and realises that he can make calls to the past and alter the course of history. With the help of telephone calls in the past, Mark realises that Jackie Pandian is evil and had led him, as a child, to believe that Antony had killed his own wife. The fact is that Jackie was the mastermind behind the deaths of both, Antony and Vedhavalli. Mark manages to change history by making calls to the past, where Jackie Pandian is killed instead of Antony. Mark now becomes the gangster in Jackie Pandian’s place. On the other hand, Jackie’s son, Madhan Pandian (S.J. Suryah), now becomes a mechanic in place of Mark Antony.
Sooner than later, Madhan Pandian gets to know about the telephone. Now, Madhan tries to change the course of history by saving his father, Jackie Pandian. A cat-and-mouse game ensues, where Jackie Pandian makes various attempts to kill Antony, but Antony survives all the attempts and learns about Jackie’s evil intentions. At one point, Jackie Pandian and his men seemingly kill Antony at the club. Mark again wakes up in the present and finds himself back as a mechanic while Jackie Pandian is still alive.
Madhan’s girlfriend, Ramya (Ritu Varma), is also sucked into this cat-and-mouse game. What happens finally? Who is killed and who survives?
Adhik Ravichandran, S.J. Arjun and R. Savari Muthu have written a weird story which is so difficult to digest that it fails to involve the viewers. The implausible plot oscillates between two time zones, only adding to the confusion of the average viewer. Of course, it may be a unique story but its impracticality and implausibility do it in. The trio’s screenplay is not half as interesting as it ought to have been. The scene in which Jackie Pandian disguises his voice and talks to little Mark Antony as if he were Mark’s mother, Vedhavalli, is the weakest scene in the drama because the audience get the feeling that just about anything is possible for Jackie Pandian. In other words, the entire drama falls like a pack of cards after this scene. The last around 45 minutes abound in confusion for the viewers. Of the various comedy scenes, some are outright irritating. Emotions are conspicuous by their absence. Manoranjan’s dialogues are routine.
Vishal acts well in the two roles of Antony and Mark Antony. S.J. Suryah relies on his stardom to sail through the roles of Jackie Pandian and Madhan Pandian. He plays to the gallery in the double role but that won’t cut much ice among the Hindi film-going audience because he is not a superstar in their eyes. Ritu Varma is alright as Mark’s girlfriend, Ramya. Sunil lends able support as Ekambaram. Selvaraghavan has his moments as scientist Chiranjeevi. Abhinaya leaves a mark as Mark Antony’s mother, Vedhavalli. Nizhalgal Ravi impresses in the role of advocate Selvam. Y.G. Mahendran is alright as Gowri. Vishnu Priya Gandhi (as Silk Smitha), Meera Krishnan (as Ramya’s mother), Mohan Vaidya (as Ramya’s father), Sendrayan (as Antony’s sidekick), Anitha Sampath (as Chiranjeevi’s wife, Janaki), Redin Kingsley (as Mogambo) and Manikandan (as Kumar) are adequate.
Adhik Ravichandran’s direction is okay. G.V. Prakash Kumar’s music is mass-appealing. Lyrics (Arafat Mehmood and Akshay Punse) are in synch with the mood of the film. Choreography (Dinesh, Baba Bhasker and Azar) is fair. Abhinandhan Ramanujam’s cinematography is very nice. Action scenes and stunts (Peter Hein, Dhilip Subbarayan, Kanal Kannan, Dinesh Subbarayan and Mafia Sasi) are thrilling for the masses. R.K. Vijay Murugan’s art direction is so-so. Vijay Velukutty’s editing ought to have been sharper. Dubbing is appropriate.
On the whole, Mark Antony is too confusing to make any mark at the Hindi box-office.
Released on 28-9-’23 at Gossip (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Reliance Entertainment. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over.