'Manasuku Nachindi', starring Sundeep Kishan in the lead, hit the screens on Friday. Here is our review.
Story:
Sooraj (Sundeep Kishan) and Nithya (Amyra Dastur) are in search of true joy. They have just delivered a shocker to their elders and are on their way to being wanderlusts.
Once in Goa, Nithya is in a mood for a spiritual masthi. Sooraj, a happy-go-lucky guy, is an underachiever who doesn't know his true talent lies in photography.
Abhay (Arun Adith) enters the screen and our Nithya is instantly smitten. Nikki (Tridha Choudhury) enters the screen and our Sooraj is instantly smitten.
But at a time when the guy proves to the world that he can become a photographer of class overnight, Nithya too realizes that she loves her long-time buddy Sooraj. What follows are halting and half-hearted doses of a triangular love story.
Analysis:
Directed by debutante Manjula Ghattamaneni, 'Manasuku Nachindi' is supposed to be a feel-good film. When it's feel-good, there are certain tropes which our filmmakers invariably smuggle in. These themes are generally associated with rich people's lifestyle; a stint in Goa just to while away time is not everyone's luxury. The ideas are cliched, repeated as they are in film after such feel-good film. The sequences are also indulgent. These are the reasons why some of us are scared of these so-called feel-good 'entertainers'.
Scene after scene, Nithya's point of view is prominent. Yes, it's welcome. Even the male protagonist speaks in a particular language. When Nithya wants to start Yoga/Meditation classes, the hero tells her to try Zumba or Aerobics. Had it been a male director, perhaps, he would have laughed away her proposal, saying that when in Goa people prefer to be at a Casino or a pub (factually right or wrong). Everything said, at the end of the day, 'MN' is full of sanitized cliches.
The proceedings are even simplistic. Nithya seems to attain mental 'nirvana' so fast. Just as Sooraj becomes a commendable photographer on a miraculous evening. Maybe such leaps of faith are expected to be uncritically experienced by the audience, as Nithya would tell time and again in the film, Osho-style. Sorry, though.
The episode where Sooraj foams at the mouth after Priyadarshi humiliates him is the only moment in the first half where the film actually presents a highpoint. Sai Madhav Burra's language is colloquial and brief in this scene, perhaps because he is only reflecting Manjula's thought process.
The second half is largely template-driven. The climax can be seen from miles away. The done-to-death point of belated realization in love is delivered in an old-fashioned way in the movie.
Sundeep Kishan is impressive in a couple of meaty scenes. After a slew of non-romantic movies, this is a film where he plays a happy-go-lucky guy. Amyra is beautiful and with an able script, she can deliver goods. Baby Jhanavi, Manjula's daughter, comes with an accented Telugu. Tridha is wasted in a sketchy role. Adith Arun delivers a confident performance as Nithya's damned crush. Punarnavi Bhupalam is body-shamed as a Lilliput. Priyadarshi, Nasser, Sanjay Swarup and others do an okayish job.
Radhan's music passes muster. Ravi Yadav's cinematography captures the picturesque beauty of the locales here and there.
Verdict:
A template-driven love story, 'MN' reeks of simplistic narration, contrived feel-goodness and what not.
