Manorama – Review

Charmi has come up with yet another suspense thriller Manorama, after her heroine-oriented Mantra. A bomb starts ticking and nobody knows when it would explode. At the same time, the heroine searches for another boy who was in love with a girl and had threatened to commit suicide if she did not marry him. In fact, the heroine herself is to die in a few days but wants to live her life meaningfully.The commercial success of the film is in limbo in the absence of comedy as the story runs with suspense and thriller.

Some terrorists plan to disturb the peace and tranquillity of Hyderabad city and gives the job of planting a bomb to a youth. He searches for a crowded place in Koti and finally selects 'Manorama" cafe as his target. He keeps the bag containing the bomb with the time set for 1 pm. Meanwhile, Gili (Charmi), who is about to die in a few days, reaches Hyderabad to spend time with her friend. Gili used to spend her time by watching people from a distance and lip-reading is her hobby.

While watching people in that crowded area from her friend"s flat, Gili watches a boy called Vasu who is disturbed. She comes to know from the conversation in a telephone booth through lip reading that he is threatening to commit suicide in case his lover Lakshmi does not turn up. However Lakshmi is in house arrest as the elders have come to know about their love affair. Her brothers set out to bash that boy upon learning that he is moving around Manorama cafe. Gili learns all this by talking to Lakshmi from her mobile phone and decides to save Vasu either from suicide or from the brothers' thrashing.

In the process, she goes to Manorama and the killer who had planted the bomb loses his heart for her at first sight. He wants to prevent Gili and fortunately, the bomb did not explode at the fixed time. So, Gili and that killer search for Vasu as the killer too had seen him. Both of them finally find Vasu by evening. While cautioning Vasu, Gili reveals that she too is going to die and tells him to value life. This is an eye-opener for the killer, who decides to save her from the bomb blast and rather help her die peacefully. So, that killer takes away the bag containing the bomb and dies in the blast. Before his death, he had sent an SMS message to Gili that he would be waiting for her in heaven, where they would be united.

PERFORMANCE:
As far as acting is concerned, Charmme is the lone artiste, who has given an excellent performance. Moreover, she has not used any kind of make up throughout the film. Nishaan, who has made his debut with this movie, has done a negative role despite playing opposite the heroine. He needs to improve a lot and should be more flexible. He has not shown much ease in his body language. Radio Mirchi RJ Pradeep has appeared in a couple of scenes and but did not have much scope to perform. The girl who has played opposite him is much better than him. Ali and MS Narayana who appeared in a couple of scenes have tried their best to tickle the funny bones of the audiences. Charmi is seen throughout the film in each and every frame.

TECHNICAL:
The graphics that were made with Rs 500 note are good to watch. In fact, it has helped the audiences to smile at least on certain occasions. Director Eswara Reddy has been able to pen a gripping screenplay for the delicate story and dialogues penned by Padmasri. There are a couple of songs and the song choreographed on Charmi is good to watch and rich in literary values. Re-recording by Koti is average. The director has chosen to include several elements for the smooth running of the film as it has no story and is totally a screenplay-based movie. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh is average and is quite confusing. Camera work by Jagan JRJ is so so.

ANALYSIS:
Eswar Reddy, who shot into fame with Mee Sreyobhilashi joined hands with Zee Motion Pictures, which ventured into Telugu films. The story is simple and delicate but the movement of the film is different from routine. Because of the absence of the basic ingredient for a Telugu movie, called comedy, the film, despite having interesting narration have not been able to gel well with the audiences. People of Andhra are in the habit of going to a theatre for entertainment and this is a strict no no for them. Only those who like films with suspense, thriller and serious genre, can enjoy this film.

Cast: Charmi, Nishan, Pradeep, Ali, MS Narayana and others

Credits: Story and dialogues – Padmasri, Camera – Jagan JRJ, Editing – Marthand K Venkatesh, Music – Koti, Art – Ashok, Action – Ram-Lakshman, Producer – P Goenka, Screenplay and direction – V Eswar Reddy.

Banner: Zee Motion Pictures

Released on: March 27, 2009