Mahanubhavudu: An obsessive romantic drama

Heroes with negative shades are accepted for their mean streak and machismo in Indian cinema. Over the years, if leading men are shown with some affliction or the other, even then the audiences have been welcoming if the ending is a happy one. This is the permissible interpolation of a ‘different’ treatment which a director wants into the commercial formula which governs film making in our part of the world.

Sharwanand’s latest flick, ‘Mahanubhavudu’ focuses on his main problem- one that of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)- which keeps him literally at arm’s length from his near and dear. He meets a squeaky clean colleague – Mehreen Pirzada- who comes into his IT workplace and he assumes that she is the one for him, given that he is fanatic about maintaining things spick and span.

Of course, Telugu cinema cannot be too intellectual and risk alienating its pastoral patrons. Building this urban edifice with a rural storyline of love and power politics, director Maruthi Dasari creates an action entertainer. Credit to him to keep the hero’s disorder in the frame throughout, making it look a problem which can have its own ramifications. Other than this, bringing this issue out of the closet and acknowledging that it needs medical attention is the other indirect spin-off of the film’s theme.

Sharing equal footage with the hero, Mehreen Kaur does a fine job and is among the most watchable of the recent crop of heroines. Vennela Kishore, who is now among the top names in romcom kind of films which have been releasing of late, is equally hilarious and impressive. Nasser is mercifully restrained, even as the rural ambience in the second half gives him enough to explode into theatrical expressions, which he does not indulge in.

Sharwanand moves a few more notches up the popularity chart with this release of his. Having carved a niche for his soft yet steely kind of portrayals, he moves into the skin of the character effortlessly and also panders to the BO requirements with a mass dance here and there.

Quite clearly, the young stars of the new millennium know how to have their movies blend action, comedy and message mongering with the new crop of directors too customising their narratives accordingly. As a light-hearted family social, this Mahanubhavudu manages to make the festival time much more laden with enjoyment.

Film Name : Mahanubhavudu

Cast : Sharwanand, Mehreen, Nasser, Vennela Kishore and Raghu Babu
Direction : Maruthi
Genre : Comedy drama
Likes : Sharwanand
Dislikes : Sluggish second half

By K Naresh Kumar