Producer : The Crowd
Director : Phanindra Narsetti
Cinematographer : Vishwanath Reddy
Music Director : Naresh Kumaran
Starring : Raja Goutham, Chandini Chowdary And Others
Keeping the regular mass masala movies aside, movies that are content-driven come out only once in a while. Here is one such film 'Manu' that entirely depends on the content. Raja Gautham, son of Comedy King Brahmanandam has been away from the industry and is marking his comeback with this film. Chandini Chowdary who kickstarted her career with short films has been testing her luck on silver screen from the past few years.
She played the female lead in this mystery romance. Phanindra Narisetti has directed a few short films but garnered a huge fan base. His short film 'Madhuram' has greatly impressed the audience. 'Manu' is marking his first feature film. It is a crowd-funded film and got invested by so many people who believed in the director. Let's check out the review of the film.
Story: Manu (Raja Goutham) is a local artiste. He is deeply in love with photographer Neela (Chandini Chowdary). They share a very unique association with each other and their relationship is the only good thing that is going on in their lives. However, destiny intervenes between them.
Akbar, a tenant rents Neela's house and things start getting a little strange. Who is this Akbar? What happened to Neela and Manu? Forms the rest of the story.
Performances: The characters portrayed by Chandini Chowdary (Neela) and Raja Gautham (Manu) are designed in a beautiful way. The way they exchange their thoughts is something that is very nice. The characters have a large scope of performance to both the leads and they have used it well. Raja Gautham showed a shocking makeover and is looking extremely different from his previous flicks. He showed maturity in his acting.
Chandini Chowdary also improved a lot when compared to her previous movies. Abeeram Verma played a vital role and justified his role. His acting is promising. There are only a few characters in this film and they all delivered their best performances.
Technical Aspects: 'Manu' has a strong story to tell. The execution by the director Phanindra Narisetti is a big letdown. He took the audiences for granted and threw his intelligence. Everything including the characters, their expressions, the way they interact, the way the story unfolds, everything creates a suspense in the audiences yet does not reveal the story which is a minus point.
Even the vocations of Neela like perfume making, embroidery to make up for her loneliness also connects the dots well but all that is extra matter. The direction by Phanindra is top without a doubt but the editing by him is not upto the mark. He could have used some direct dialogues in some situations. Cinematographer Vishwanath Reddy did an extraordinary job. Naresh Kumar's background score is excellent and astounding. Everyone in the technical team did their best.
Verdict: Raja Gautham and Chandini Chowdary got their career best roles. Abram Verma is a good find too. The movie is like a description in a poetic way but the poetic way has exceeded the limits. 'Manu' excels in terms of acting as well as technical aspects.
The first half deals with a series of murders, conversations at the bar and some mysterious characters whereas the second half is direct in terms of unfolding the story. The runtime could have have been crisper. The draggy scenes could have been edited out. Overall, 'Manu' fails to live upto the hype and is an utter disappointment.
Filmybuzz.com Rating: 2/5
