Mana Shankaravaraprasad Garu Review - A tailor-made fun festival flick!
Ashwin Ram
Premise: Nayanthara is a business tycoon who has been a divorcee for six years now. Her father has a life threat, for which National security officer Chiranjeevi is appointed, who is also Nayanthara’s ex-husband. How the family reunites is the crux of the story.
Writing/ Direction: The film starts like a spoof genre, ten minutes was all that was taken to set the carefree tonality of the film. The story arc is heavily adapted from Ajithkumar’s Viswasam, not the screenplay though. Wafer-thin content, be it the lead pair’s separation reasoning or the villain’s conflict, convenient writing and very minimal substance. What is dense here is the never-ending humour, which happens to be the biggest strength of director Anil Ravipudi and he has carried forward his supremacy in this film as well. The filmmaker is well aware of the audience’s pulse, his trademark hilarious moments are present in every single scene, that includes shifting some serious situations into the light-hearted zone. But these mood swings do not work at all instances, it was tough to connect whenever a sentimental value was tried to convey right after the jokes. However the emotional conversation between Nayanthara and her mother-in-law was sensible, also it is sure to attract the women crowd. The film is filled with fun sequences and wildly enjoyable comedies. The speechless communications between Chiranjeevi and Nayanthara were so cute, timepass school portions especially the ones involving the small boy from Sankranthiki Vasthunam landed as a laugh-riot, the atrocities of the security officials and finally the crazy dance episode featuring Venkatesh… so many entertaining stretches as such make this one a special outing. Usually in a big star flick, the comedy track and the family scenes will be hindrances to the story, it is the other way around here as the action blocks are distancing our involvement from the flow. While most commercial aspects work big time, there are a few flat spots too, the musical setup-payoff of Chiranjeevi and his father-in-law was such a bummer and placing a separate party song for Venkatesh right after the competitive dance bits felt underwhelming. There are several unwanted segments too, Chiranjeevi preaching about divorce to Nayanthara’s friends and the Golf club scene featuring Hareesh Peradi were all extra fittings.
Performances: Chiranjeevi’s stylish presence and enthusiasm while performing humour elevated the film to the next level, a star who has let go of his mass hero image, felt like he was dancing throughout. Nayanthara looked like a queen and carried herself so gracefully with the stubborn attitude, too much makeup in certain shots was bothersome. Venkatesh’s extended cameo is a huge victory for the final act, his sportive game effortlessly came into play. Megastar did carry the film single-handedly, however Catherine Tresa and others who were a part of his support system could have done a better job, their jokes fell flat in multiple places.
Technicalities: Bheems’ songs are vibe materials, almost every track was a bonafide chartbuster. The background score does help the flow, but theme songs for specific characters sounded monotonous. Neat camera work with absolutely no complaints, melodies shot in live locations were exotic and dance numbers placed inside the sets looked colourful, complimenting the art department. Editing was a bit old-school, some spoon feeding showcasing and 160 minutes felt lengthy as there is scope for trimming it down to 150. Except for the overpowering climax, a simple tone was maintained in the fight sequences, the stunt team has comforted the 70-year-old hero and made him look believable on-screen.
Verdict: Definitely not a flawless movie, there are writing issues with betterment needed in the initial portions and the finale. Yet there is no dull in the screenplay, the humour here is gold and there are loads of them to constantly make the crowd go crazy.
MANA SHANKARAVARAPRASAD GARU - A Tailor-Made Fun Festival Flick!
Rating - 3/ 5.