Manmadha Leelai (2022 film)

The film is shown in a nonlinear manner, showing the life of Sathya (Ashok Selvan), in 2 different stages at 2010 and 2020. In 2010, Sathya is a rich and spoiled college-going student, who is always into chatting and dating women online. He is shown to be chatting with a woman named Poorni (Samyuktha Hegde) and is planning to meet her soon.

In 2020, Sathya is a successful entrepreneur, owning a chain of fashion outlets. He is happily married to Anu (Smruthi Venkat) and has a kid. He is keen on expanding his business and plans to open an outlet in Dubai.

Back in 2010, Sathya convinces Poorni to meet up and they soon agree to meet in Poorni's house, when her father is away on a business trip. On Poorni's request, Sathya buys her a few bottles of beer. Soon, things start developing between them and they end up making love.

In 2020, one day, Anu and their daughter are off to Anu's parents' home, leaving Sathya alone at home. He is visited by Leela (Riya Suman), an attractive woman, who had mistakenly knocked his door for someone else. Since it rains outside, Sathya offers her to come in and soon they share a drink. Attracted by her beauty, Sathya woos her and soon they end up making love. Next morning, while still in bed, Anu suddenly comes back home and is outside the door, knocking. Similarly, in 2010, the next morning, while still in bed, Poorni's father suddenly comes back home and is outside the door, knocking. Sathya is a caught in a helpless situation and is desperately looking for an escape.

Somehow, Sathya manages Anu, while Leela hides underneath the bed and Anu goes back to her parents' house, as she came to take some stuff. While going back, she makes Sathya feel that she always loves him and Sathya starts to feel guilty for his actions. He immediately asks Leela to leave. Leela is upset that Sathya used her for a one night stand and pleads him to let her stay.

In 2010, Sathya somehow manages to escape from being seen by Poorni's father, and hides in the store room. There, shockingly, he finds a few photographs that reveal Poorni was lying the whole time about her father, and that the man knocking the door is indeed her husband, Mohan, not her father, as Poorni told him. While trying to escape, Sathya eventually is caught. Mohan knocks him out by smashing a bottle on his head.

In 2020, Sathya finds out that Leela has no plans to leave and she had indeed planned everything that happened last night and recorded it all using a small camera, with the idea of blackmailing Sathya into laundering money from him. Leela is shown to be working along with Madan, her associate, who enters the home and knocks him out.

In 2010, Sathya is captured by Mohan and he tells them that he would rather kill them both, as Poorni has had a history of cheating and Sathya was not her first boy friend. In the ensuing mishap, Sathya mistakenly strangulates and kills Mohan, much to the shock of Poorni. Sathya convinces Poorni that, in order to escape she must write a letter depicting Mohan as a villain and she had run away from him to escape his torturer, so that people would believe that Mohan had committed suicide, out of shame. They stage everything perfectly and leave the home. Sathya drives her away to his old farmhouse, where he promises to keep her safe.

In 2020, it is revealed that Madan was actually Poorni's first boy friend and the Police found some evidence linking him to Mohan's death. He was wrongfully accused and he lost his education and support of his family, due to the incident. He desperately has been searching for Sathya and Poorni since 2010, as Madan had seen Poorni getting away with Sathya in his car, after killing Mohan. Madan asks Sathya to show him the location of Poorni to get his revenge on her. Sathya takes Madan and Leela to his old farm house.

Sathya tells Madan and Leela that he will enter the house through the backdoor and open the front door from inside, as it appears to be locked. He enters through the backdoor and opens the front door and appears with a shotgun. He shoots and kills Leela from point blank range. In a shocking turn of events, it is revealed that Sathya is actually a coldblooded serial killer.

He killed Poorni in 2010, when he brought her to his farm house. Fearing that she would cheat on him someday and snitch about him to the police, he fooled Poorni using the same backdoor story and killed her using the shotgun and buried her in the garden of the farm house. It is also revealed that, after killing Mohan, Sathya managed to loot the gold and money from Poorni's home without her knowledge and it was this money with which he had started his business in the first place. He also planted evidence against Madan, after hacking into Poorni's online chats and made the police believe that Poorni had eloped with Madan so that Sathya cannot be brought into the picture at all.

Back in 2020, Sathya threatens Madan with the shotgun and orders him to bury Leela. Sathya then shoots and kills him. He buries him along with Leela, telling himself that she was indeed a one night stand.

• Ashok Selvan as Sathya
• Samyuktha Hegde as Poorni
• Smruthi Venkat as Anu
• Riya Suman as Leela
• Jayaprakash as Mohan
• Chandran as Madan
• Premji Amaren as Veer
• Karunakaran as Sasi
• Baby Aazhiya as Sathya and Anu's daughter
• Aravind Akash in Cameo Appearance
• Vaibhav Reddy in Cameo Appearance

The official announcement about this film was released as a first look poster on 17 January 2022 by Venkat Prabhu and team.[2] The filming had already started back in 2021 with Ashok Selvan and simultaneously working with Silambarasan for Maanaadu film as well. This will be the 10th film for Venkat Prabhu and stated as "Venkat's Quickie" in his official tweet.[3] Then the team officially released their first glimpse of this film on 10 February 2022.[4]

The music is composed by Venkat Prabhu's brother Premgi Amaren. The first single "Va Kanakku" was released on 29 March 2022.

The Production Team RockFort Entertainment has confirmed the official release date for Manmadha Leelai on 1 April 2022 in their Twitter.[5]

The film opened to positive reviews. M Suganth of The Times of India rated the film with 3/5 stars, stating that, "The director who pulled off an even more complex narrative with Maanaadu, chooses the road often travelled here. What was a tense adult comedy turns into an unimaginative crime movie with a convenient ending and a predictable twist. Even tonally, the film becomes something flashy and larger than life. And it is left to Ashok Selvan, who is terrific as a smooth-talking womaniser single-mindedly working towards getting his target, making his frustrations feel funny to us to carry this transformation. The actor tries, but with the writing letting him down, he barely manages to prevent this quickie from reaching it's climax on an unsatisfactory note."[6] Siby Jeyya of India Herald wrote, "The director, who previously pulled off an even more intricate story with Maanaadu, opts for the well-worn path here. What started out as a suspenseful adult comedy quickly devolves into an unoriginal crime film with a facile conclusion and predictable surprise."[7] Behindwoods gave a rating 2.75 out of 5 stars, stating that "the film is a fun adult thriller which is worth your time and money."[8] Srivatsan S of The Hindu said, "The manner in which adultery is dealt with, to make it presentable and cool, raises concern about whether it was made for self-respecting adults or a gullible ‘youth’ crowd"[9] Avinash Ramachandran of Cinema Express rated the film with 2.5/5 stars, called the film an intriguing dark comedy that falls short.[10]