'Manu Charitra', produced by Narala Srinivas Reddy, was released in theatres today. Here is our review of the latest BO release.
Plot:
Manu's (Shiva Kandukuri) life turns upside down when his proposed engagement with Jennifer (Megha Akash) breaks apart. Under the influence of alcohol and in a traumatized state of mind, he seeks solace in a series of short-term affairs: He falls in love with half a dozen women (played by Garima Kaushal, Pragathi Shrivastav, Priya Vadlamani, Harishita Chowdary and others). Out of the blue, he calls it quits with each of them. Pushed by unsavoury circumstances, he also becomes the right-hand man to a domineering local thug named Rudra ('Daali' Dhananjay).
Performances:
Shiva Kandukuri embraces a complex role so early in his career, thereby showing his conviction. The choice is all the more bold because his performance will be compared with that of Vijay Deverakonda in 'Arjun Reddy', considering that 'Manu Charitra' has a few intentional similarities with the 2017 hit.
Megha Akash's weighty part is diluted by the superficial characterization. Since the male lead's friend is played by someone like Suhas (himself a sought-after lead actor after 'Colour Photo' and 'Writer Padmabhushan'), his character was expected to be important to the story. In a scene, he reveals that Manu has become problematic owing to him. We expect an explosive or at least an emotionally satisfying flashback after this build-up. What we get to watch is a really outdated plot after that. In the end, you feel cheated and stop taking Suhas seriously.
‘Daali’ Dhananjay and Srikanth Iyyengar are okayish. They try their best to rise above their feeble characters. Madhu Nandhan playing a serious role for the nth time proves to be his nth mistake.
Technical aspects:
In a film crying for novelty, Gopi Sundar's music is the only saving grace. The songs offer some succour amid a sea of cliches, inferior ideas and familiar situations. Prawin Pudi's editing could have prevented the film from becoming a crashing bore in the second half. The pre-climax and climax are loose, if not all over the place.
Cinematographer Rahul Shrivatsav's cinematography is average. The action choreography is weighed down by an unenergetic demeanour.
Analysis:
When your hero is flawed, does your work as a filmmaker become easy or difficult? It's always the latter. 'Manu Charitra', however, comes across as a story that wants to have it easy - by piggybacking on 'Arjun Reddy'. The laziness shows.
Whenever the film tries to go beyond 'Arjun Reddy' (in a sense, it tries to become 'Arjun Reddy Pro Max' at times), the screenplay turns bloated. Vijay Deverakonda's movie featured realistic dialogue and unpretentious behaviour by its many characters. 'Manu Charitra', which is heavily inspired by that movie, adopts an outmoded approach when it comes to its language. The characters speak as if they belong to the 1980s.
After a series of fickle relationships, Manu seems to have found his soulmate. And she is his soulmate primarily because she has this odd idea of mixing a Hindu style of praying with Christian beliefs. Seriously? Do you think any depressed individual will find such behaviour liberating and exclaim, "Wow! I found my girl!"?
The film's run-time of 165 minutes wouldn't have been over-indulgent had at least one conflict plot point come with the ability to tug at the heartstrings. No tragedy hits you hard. After a point, Manu's trials and tribulations start seeming hilariously avoidable. There is pretty much no reason why he should have become a goonda. He behaves like that orphan hero from Puri Jagannadh's movies.
Closing Remarks:
'Manu Charitra' is affected and poorly executed.
