Aptly retold

A short crisp film built around an interesting premise. So surely you know very early (a) that ticket will be easy to get and (b) the film has its genesis outside of Tollywood. You can sit through less than two hours and watch a film with a script that lazes often but yet tickles you, allows you to think and even keeps you guessing and interested.

Authenticity and novelty built up over a short and crisp script, Prakash Raj reveals and revels as an ideal all rounder. His script, screenplay and dialogues are all commendable and add to the final product that should find place like Tanikella Bharani’s ‘Mithunam’. May be not at the same level but surely aspiring in direction.

This is the kind of film that Tollywood should yearn for. Instead of parting with tons of cash and going about destroying cars, buildings, images, reputes and sensitivities, this film is the kind that tells the viewer that cinema is not necessarily loud and lewd. It is completely devoid of the regular trappings that make viewing a Tollywood product embarrassing.

Prakash Raj has a simple story told without exaggeration, laid out with sincerity and narrated with erudite understanding of the script. It leaves you with a desire to reach out to the original: ‘Shutter’ in Malayalam. Bhujangam (Prakash Raj) has made his money in Dubai. He flaunts it. He pushes it for social acceptance in his little town and even has a set of hangers -on who go gaga in his presence about his skill sets and back bite in his absence.

A strict patriarchal disciplinarian, his wife meekly surrenders to him, not his maa- in- law (Bhargavi Narayanan- a fine cameo), not his daughter. His man Friday is a local auto driver Shiva (Satyadev-- in a superb performance who can teach many a hero how to craft a performance and give a role the right amount of flesh). In a chanced moment of adventure, he brokers a one night stand between Bhujangam and a sex worker Susheela (Priyamani).

He locks them in a room right outside the house of Bhujangam promising to return in a few hours. He gets arrested by the police for drunken driving when he has film director Garuda (Prudhvi) in the backseat with a script that he has left behind in the locked room. Bhujangam is thus locked all night in the room with a sex worker, is mortified of being exposed.

The relationship between the man eager to be with the woman and without the guts to be seen with her, the lady who cares no hoots about anything but is restrained and not proverbially vulgar make for a wonderful duo working out the night. Little incidents outside the locked room pan out anxiously for the twosome.

Everyone in the film from the extras to the veterans like Prudhvi give the film their sincere understanding and acceptance. They function as a team and realise that a film is about a team telling a story, not a hero working his heroics. Priyamani is restrained. As is Prakash Raj. An actor who often goes overboard in commercial cinema showcases his capacity to play under the skin of a character and not scream above it.

It is not often that you get an opportunity to see a film in Telugu with the family where the hero is caught for an entire night with a sex worker. This is far less lewd, far less exaggerated than the regular family entertainers. It is worth taking a break from the festive season and enjoying an outing at the theatres. This in itself is a rarity. Take it.

Film Name : Mana Oori Ramayanam

Cast : Prakash Raj, Priyamani, Prudhvi and Satyadev
Direction : Prakash Raj
Genre : Drama
Likes : Story, narration and cast
Dislikes : Could’ve been crisper