First things first, I am not encroaching into Jeevi's arena of reviewing movies and what I am presenting here is NOT a review of the movie. I would like to just put forth my views on Manmadhudu and who I think are the 'heroes' of Manmadhudu.

One thing which all you movie-lovers would agree with me instantaneously is the experience, repleted with insatiable satisfaction, of watching a big-hero's movie on the very first day in the main theater in your hometown. This experience not only makes one nostalgic of all those good old days of bunking college/school to see our favorite heroes in action in the very first show on the first day, but also makes us energetic being surrounded by a hoard of zealots in the theater shouting, howling and dancing to glory seeing their favorite hero on the silver screen.

I call this an 'experience' because having been deprived of it for quite a long time, I found the whole process so overwhelming, all over again, that it is nothing less than an experience and an exhilarating one at that. Having said that, let me thank the entire cast and crew of Manmadhudu for giving us a clean, congruous comedy film. While the share of a movie's success goes almost to the entire unit that has toiled day and night with just one aim of not just delivering but delivering the goods right, I think the following persons deserve a special mention for their spirited efforts for this movie.

Enough has been said about Nagarjuna's charm. Enough has been written about is looks. Enough has been touted about his on screen magic. Whatever I state more would be just reiterating the encomiums showered on his charisma. With his eye-catching outfits, killer looks and a very cool attitude Nag breathes life into the role of Abhiram. He makes us believe that if at all someone called Manmadhudu exists or ever existed in our mythology, he would be just like Nag. Manmadhudu is undoubtedly Nag's show all the way right from the word go. He certainly is the crowd-puller leaving behind Sonali Bendre and the London lass Anshu in the race, who nowhere come close to Nag in this regard. Nag also being the producer of the movie, has left no stone unturned to make this movie an extravaganza. Lush foreign locales (this time thankfully its not Swiss but Paris), huge supporting cast, gorgeous costumes, Manmadhudu has it all

Trivikram handles two vital departments - story and dialogues- of Manmadhudu deflty. Contrary to the pre-release rumours about the film that the basic storyline is an adaptation of Mel Gibson's What Women Want, the story (well, there isn't much to talk about story as such but which film these days boasts of a "story"?) is totally different from What Women Want but for a scene or two here and there. I am not quite sure if Trivikram knows what women want, but he definitely knows what the audiences want from his pen. It is the dialogue-writer in Trivikram who emerges more successful than the storywriter in him.

Trivikram's dialogues are full of wit and humor and when needed they, though filled with soft and simple words, convey a razor sharp message without falling into the grove of sermons, quite unlike in Vasu and Nuvve Nuvve. The dialogues given to each character in the movie go hand-in-hand with their basic characterization. Now, this doesn't come as a surprise given Trivikram's sensibility in making a character mouth dialogues relevant to its characterization. Even when the characters mouth petty yet witty dialogues like - 'Ataniki pichhi kaadu, aadavallante kachhi', 'Bill manaki thrill vaallaki', 'Suit vesukogane saripodu, daaniki suit ayye panulu cheyyali', 'Scent kottukovadam kaadu, decent gaa behave cheyyatam kooda raavali', the intended humor, though sometimes tending towards being slapstick, doesn't appall you.

However, the basic premise of the movie - Nag developing hatred for women - doesn't look convincing. When Nag and Anshu's car is run over by a truck, Nag goes into coma and Anshu dies on the spot. But to save Nag from going into a depression, he is told a lie that Anshu is hale and healthy and that she is marrying another person. Consequently, Nag's love for Anshu not only transforms into bitterness, but he also develops hatred for women. Why is he still kept in the dark even after years of his recovery especially when things go to such an extent that he develops incurable aversion to all the eligible bachelorettes? Also, Nag's care-takers neither seem to be interested in removing this suddenly induced hatred for women in Nag nor find a good girl to woo him out of this. Had there been a genuine and more convincing reason than just a lie for Nag to develop hatred towards women, the punchline of the movie - He hates women - would have had more punch in it.

Also, Trivikram somehow fits in his typical Trivikram twine - heroine gets engaged to a different guy, falls in love with the hero and the hero winning her back - in the story. Apart from that, he makes use of the heroine's eyes (the bridge crossing scene where Nag, who is afraid of water, looks into Sonali's eyes to forget his fear for water) to regenerate those mushy feelings of love in the hero's character for the heroine. This eyes episode was also made use of in Nuvvu Naaku Nachhav.

K Vijay Bhaskar [KVB] adds one more feather to his cap of successes with this movie. His narrative style and direction, though similar to his earlier movies - Swayamvaram, Nuvve Kavali, Nuvvu Naaku Nachhav - is entertaining without any dull moments in the film. Without going in for heavy sentiments, slapstick humor and too many dishum-dishums, he imparts a touch of simplicity, keeping the nativity in tact, to this movie. His continuous successes, apart from an ample support in the form of Trivikram's rib-ticking dialogues, lies in giving the audience what they like and expect out of his film. It would be interesting to watch KVB deliver the goods without Trivikram being the dialogue writer for his film.

Though the climax looks abrupt, without proper continuity, especially between the scene where Nag and Sonali meet each other after jumping into the water and the following first night scene, KVB deserves a pat on his back for saving us from some unwanted melancholic melodrama. However, his song picturization style (except the picturization of Cheliya Cheliya) leaves a lot to be desired. Three out of six songs (Don't marry, Nenu nenuga lenu and Andamaina bhamalu) are party songs and have almost the same style of picturization. The remaining two duets are again routine foreign locale songs. I expected a beautiful imaginative picturizaton atleast for Nenu nenuga lenu song which has a beautiful word-feast from Sirivennela's pen like - Poola chettu ooginattu, palabottu chindinattu, alukundi na chuttu o chirunavvu.

Finally, the young, energetic and down-to-earth (I rely on someone else's words about this) music director DsriP adds his share of charm to Manmadhudu with his melodious soundtrack. Not only do his melodies shine in the movie, his background score adds greatly to the effect and mood of the scenes. DsriP no doubt has a long way to go giving a stiff competition to his contemporaries.

Manmadhudu is already setting the box office on fire in AP. His love arrows seem to be doing their work promptly in making the audience fall in love deeply with him. He might be hating women but the whole of AP is now head over heels on Manmadhudu.

Sreya Sunil

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