Friday, March 6, 2020

Mana Oori Ramayana (2016) Movie Review

Mana Oori Ramayana or Idolle Ramayana is a 2016 Telugu-Kannada bilingual film written, produced and directed by Prakash Raj. It is a remake of the 2012 Malayalam film Shutter directed by Joy Matthew who also wrote Mana Oori Ramanayam. This film is now available on Prime Video after 4 years of its release. This movie is a disaster at the box office due to less promotion and lukewarm reception. I did know that the film was releasing but yeah, did not see it. Now that I watched it, how is the film?


At the time the film released, the Telugu industry was in a dry period to say the least with flops every week. It may be a factor for the disastrous collections of the film. But, this film is actually a solid entertainer. If this film released now and clicked with the audiences, it would have been a great hit. Anyways, this film stars Prakash Raj, Priyamani, Raghubabu, Prudhvi, Satyadev in lead roles. It revolves around Bhujangaiah and how a lady changed his life.

The mood of the TFI was filled with good and simple stories along with commercial elements. Audiences were enjoying the emotions and fun. But, the type of story and screenplay, the audience was not ready for. The writing by Prakash Raj is excellent. Every detail is well thought out and intricately placed. It's reference notes to the Ramayana is very nice. It is also very tight and engaging despite its slow pace. It pulls you in the film. Small twists are added into the film but they are quite predictable. The middle portion of the film is the best part of the film. The discussion it makes about friends and honour is the thing to learn from this film.  But, the film is quite light and with the story in hand, they could have intensified some scenes. Altogether, the film is quite nice.

But, even better is the acting. Satyadev in the beginnings of his career has been given a meaty role and he delivers big. Raghubabu, Prudhvi give great performances. We see another side of both these actors who are just subjected to doing comedy roles in many films. Prakash Raj shows his experience and class to the role of Bhujangaiah. But, by far the best performance of the film is from Priyamani. He lived the role. Her scenes with Prakash Raj work so well. She definitely deserves another national award for this film.

The technical aspects of the film are very good like the captain. The cinematography brings the village like environment alive. The editing is phenomenal. The runtime of 1hr 48min is unheard of in recent times. Also, this film is void of any songs. But, Maestro Ilayaraaja's BGM brings the essence of Ramayana into the film. The artwork in the film also have to be commended for the same cause.
The colours of the temple and the grit of the shutter are well pictured.

Overall, this film is a very good watch. I definitely recommend you to check this out. A great direction and writing along with some beautiful performances and an engaging screenplay return an heartwarming watch although improvement can be done.

iMDB  Rating: 7.5/10
My Rating: 8/10

No comments:

Post a Comment