Manamantha

Lots of Indian films are now being simultaneously made in multiple languages in order to attract more viewers and generate more revenue. However, this family drama is not that appealing so as to receive such a wide release, in three different languages.

Sairam (Mohanlal) is a middle-class man working as a supermarket supervisor. He is in great debt owing to his financial needs, and will do anything to snatch that upcoming promotion. Gayathri (Gautami) is a housewife who is tired of her everyday life filled with frugality. She wants to break free from the shackles of her impoverished life, which is when she bumps into her college professor who is now a rich businessman. Abhiram (Viswant Duddumpudi) is a college student who sees himself falling for an affluent girl without realizing the her intentions. And finally, there is Mahitha (Raina Rao), a school- going girl who is relentlessly looking for her young street friend, who has been missing for days now. The story is all about these four characters' issues and their eventual intertwining.

For an average viewer, it would not take much time to detect the film's central theme, which is a mix of various values such as righteousness, virtue of family life, love and lust, innocence, and humanitarianism. Even though the elements used to convey these contrived messages are sane enough, the end products look extremely cringe-worthy, making its viewers dismiss most of the fables it throws at them. Of course, there is enough matter for a naive person to grasp from the four stories, but all of them are either clichéd or senseless or both. It becomes preachy towards the end where the lives of the characters connect with each other, as anyone could have predicted, conveniently ending the 150-minute charade with a fused-off, noiseless bang.

In addition to the awful editing and dubbing (Malayalam), the screenplay is all bits and pieces, trying to construct itself as novelty of climactic storytelling. Unfortunately, it comes out contrived, ill-timed, and haphazard, with no respect for the informed audience sitting at the receiving end. The cast performance is not that great, either, with even Mohanlal following the amateur director's directions and doing no more.

Lastly, it is evident that the film was made to bank in on the lead actor's fame and nothing else. It manages to tell a story or two on the way, which could make it an easy afternoon watch.

BOTTOM LINE: Telugu filmmaker Chandra Sekhar Yeleti's "Vismayam" is a greasy family drama that may appeal to the older generation who may have already seen some of the elements sampled in it. For today's people, this is just a badly executed drama made by a bunch who are clearly out of ideas. Watch the TV premiere, but switch channels during commercials.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

my rating- 3/5 (above average one time watch with a good message and few thrills and a suspense climax)

Postives - 1.)Mohanlal (comeback after 10 months)- he was brilliant and he has portrayed his character in a good manner that you wont forget about his performance (well done). and in Telugu version i was really impressed because he himself dubbed in Telugu for his role and its a proud moment for Kerala.

2.) gauthami (i am seeing her after long time on screen and it was a nice comeback) - her role depicting a normal mother doing household chores was excellent (may remind you of Sridevi in English Vinglish).

3.) vishwant as abhiram was totally good. he portrayed that tech geek boy in a nice manner. and his romantic scenes was good and the script was able to support him with plenty of good dialogues which was comfortable for him and for his limited emotions.

4.)raina as mahitha was the main highlight. she has done her role excellenty and casting her was a right choice indeed!! and yes she was able to provide all emotions in this movie which some actors failed to provide. she may be a child artist but her acting was outstanding!!

5.) a good message film.

negatives- 1.) script and direction- well if the national award winning director could have taken care a bit then this movie could have also got a national award. script disappointed me at certain areas and we can feel clichés in towards climax where its supposed to amaze us. climax was supposed to be a legend one according to director but for us it was mixed bag of clichés. there are many movies like this and it reminded me of a Malayalam movie(paisa paisa movie). that movie was excellent in providing thrill as well as emotions at the same time. i don't know if director was trying to copy that but he should have remaked it other than adding scenes from paisa paisa. i am not saying script failed to provide thrill but suspense in climax and thrill in interval wasn't that good. from directors part he could have made it in raw film realness format other than following normal colorful format . and plus he could have added few thriller scenes extra. from the script part i think the script could have been more thrilling if the writers could have added variety and inspiring dialogues in to it. makers could have added few variety scenes to make it a extraordinary one and this film has a great potential to be a best one.

2.)cinematography - it wasn't that great and just average.

3.)music- average.my rating for music- 2.8/5

is it a must watch?

well my opinion is to this is not. watch it for Timepass. yea you can watch with your family and it has a good message to future generations but the script writers and makers failed to execute it properly. so again i am telling you just watch it for time pass and also watch without much expectations.

overall- its a family movie with good message to everyone but you may forget it after few days because of the lack of execution of the film which makes it a one time watch.

Great movie with its split storyline. Great production quality, not a fan of the audio dubbing.. it's a bit annoying. Some areas are very noticeable.

This movie is really awesome. The kind of work and detailing which is gone in to the screenplay of this movie is tremendous and amazing. The biggest asset of this movie is that it feels so realistic that you actually forget that it is a movie rather we come to a state where we feel it is a part in everyone's life. Every character has its own significance. The mood of the movie makes you feel soothing and relaxing and also makes us forget the effort being put in making of the film which I believe is the success of the movie. The story revolves around four people. I don't know if the director could get a better cast for this movie because all the characters are apt. Mohanlal and gauthimi has done outstanding performance. Even the small kids has done a great job. This film is a proof that good films are also being made in telugu apart from regular nonsense,mass,masala and comedy movies. Do watch this movie. Support good films.

"Manamantha" is a human drama with simple emotions and subtle sensibilities. It follows the journey of four people at different phases in their life. Four different and distinct stories, different paths are interlinked in the end with a neat twist. Though the twist is not hard to expect, it has actually enhanced the emotional buildup in the ending of the movie.

Director Chandrasekhar Yeleti who is known for making thrillers like "Aithey", and "Anukokunda Oka Roju" has shown that he is also at ease directing movies with emotional content.

Stories about different people and all of them are getting linked in the end with one incident or situations is seen in films like "Chandamama Kathalu", but Yeleti treads different path here.

The four people and four different stories are linked with a completely new twist, which is what the movie's core emotion is all about. Like in "Drushyam", the final episodes of the story leaves a lump in our throat.

Like most people in regular life, Mohanlal is shown here taking "hand loans" from colleagues, becoming selfish when an opportunity comes to become a manager from asst manager. This greediness lands him in a big trouble and when he comes to know the situation has gone out of hands, the way Mohanlal repents, and goes through emotional upheaval are presented beautifully.

Apart from Mohanlal's thread, the other beautiful thread is of Raina Rao who played the role of a good-hearted kid who lands in trouble helping a poor kid. Raina and the poor kid both have played so naturally. Yeleti has shown his maturity and mark here in these sequences.

While Gauthami's thread is interesting it has been stretched beyond a point and the talk about Saree's etc are unwarranted. But one scene involving Gauthami is funny when she goes to Koti to save Rs 400 and ends up spending more than that from her purse. The typical middle-class situation is portrayed funnily.

The thread of Abhi (played Vishwanth) and his romance with Anisha Amrose gives you feel of déjà vu.

While the movie is laced with emotional scenes, all these are stored in the second half. The first half of the movie is not that convincing though it sets up the mood. On the downside, the film is excruciatingly slow.

Despite these minor flaws, "Manamantha" is one of the best made emotional dramas in the recent times in Tollywood. Director Chandrasekhar Yeleti has proved again that he is a director with a different approach.

All in all, watch the film for its emotional content, good and earnest scenes and superb performances from the lead actors.