Some people are not yet convinced that Muthu was Manipulative so here is an example where i found him to be manipulating.

https://reddit.com/link/1i7ynig/video/fo44desw7pee1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1i7ynig/video/eqiz1ak78pee1/player

In the first video, you can clearly see that Sound immediately started apologising after deepak showed his frustration. She said sorry 5 times in a very polite and regretful manner. But in the second video you can see muthu convincing deepak that soundarya did it on purpose and asked sorry in a mocking way and framing the entire situation as if sound is trying to frame deepak as the bad guy. The only reason deepak reacted in such a frustrated manner in the first place is because muthu and vishal said nasty things about sound the previous day night about her dressing sense and behaviour. He kept all this things in mind and reacted that way.

This is not a remote incident. When Vishal at first said he found sound dressing sense and behaviour towards others wrong. Muthu said sound is trying to trap the boys by doing all of this. Thats why he didnt react when she was so closely standing next to him and talking. Because of this, even after VJS said it was vishal's fault, he was stubborn and telling it was not his fault so he will not ask sorry.

Same thing he did with Sathya. When he was the captain he kept on saying what he was expecting from a captain and then will tell do what you feel is right. 90% of the decisions that sathya took was all proposed by Muthu. If i start finding all those clips where he was being manipulative, then it will take me a few days to collate.

The only person who had the guts to cross his strategies was Rayan. Others will just agree as long as it is also favourable to them. Example Jack, Manjari, Sachana, Sathya, Deepak, Arun (initially), Ranjith. When even muthu starts talking with "Unnakku onnu puridha.." you know he has started his manipulation.

I wouldnt exactly say its his fault either. I am a frequent participant in MUNs and Debates. One of the most important thing that we learn is how to convince others the most impossible thing to believe or twist a negative into a possitive or just move past that topic. We would even speak 'for' and 'against' topics such as "Slavery should not have been abolished". You would thing how can someone even talk 'for' such a topic but its possible.