Santosh Sobhan is known for his feel-good entertainers. His film Anni Manchi Sakunamule is releasing on 18 May 2023 with decent expectations. Nandini Reddy is testing her luck once again as the director. The film's OTT partner is yet to be finalized and viewers can enjoy the movie on OTT after the end of its theatrical run. Let us see what Anni Manchi Sakunamule showed to viewers.
Anni Manchi Sakunamule's story is about two families who inherit the age-old rivalry and legal tangles, and how the current generation tries to overcome it. Arya (Malvika Nair) is a go-getter since childhood and aspires to develop her family Coffee business by exporting it overseas. Rishi is completely different from her and believes in living and savoring the present moment rather than setting goals and running to achieve them. Where their childhood relationship leads to and how Arya's father Dr. Sudhakar (Naresh), his brother Divakar (Rao Ramesh), Rishi's father Prasad (Rajendra Prasad), mother Meenakshi (Gautami), Dr Jagadamba (Urvasi) are connected to it and what is the birth secret form the interesting part of the narration.
Santosh Sobhan played the role of Rishi in the film. He tried to be as realistic and as natural as possible. He played similar types of roles earlier and he followed the same pattern, style, and mannerisms here. One gets a feeling that he could have improvised himself while showing emotions at crucial junctures and also with regard to his body language. At times, he just passed through the scenes just for the heck of it. He should have brought his earlier experience in doing such roles for the betterment of the character. While he made his presence felt, at times, he was dominated by the other experienced cast. His performance had its ups and downs, intense at times, and completely lost at times.
Malvika Nair is good in her role. She displayed her character traits quite well on the screen. As per her role, she dominated Santosh Sobhan in the scenes featuring both of them. While sharing screen presence with others, she carried herself with confidence.
Seasoned players Naresh, Rao Ramesh, Rajendra Prasad, and Gautami elevated the scenes with their performances. In sentiment scenes, they made a strong impact with their emotions. Urvasi, Showcar Janaki, and Vennela Kishore are ok in their roles.
Anni Manchni Sakunamule's story of Nandini Reddy is a feel-good romantic family entertainer. Nandini Reddy who scored hits like Ala Modalaindi and Oh Baby this time selected a family entertainer with feel-good elements. Though the idea is right, the screenplay provided by Lakshmi Bhupala played the spoilsport. The screenplay is so slow, that despite the impactful performances from the seasoned players, viewers become impatient while watching it on the screen.
Right from the start till the finish, the narration follows the same predictable line and with the wafer-thin story, she decided only to bank on the emotional performances. But in the process, they failed to realize that even impactful performances cannot save the film if the story is weak.
The setting of the two families, their rivalry, legal tangle, and the so-called romance brewing, has been seen in many earlier films and Nandini Reddy followed the same format. There is not even one scene with excites viewers. Finally, after the predictable happenings, we break into the second half. The interval bang also looked forced just to give a break for the viewers and prepare them for another tedious second half.
The second half follows a similar pattern, scenes like the hero's one-side love, his efforts to resolve the family differences and the Telangana, Andhra angle end up testing the patience of the viewers. Emotions come and go and those scenes are elevated in an impactful manner only during the pre-climax and the climax.
The music of Mickey J Meyer is melodious. All the songs are soothing and shot in a beautiful way. His background music is in sync with the storyline. However, he could have included more intensity and depth in the songs and also in the BGM. Sunny Kurapati and Richard Prasad did a good job as a cinematographer as the visuals are beautiful, natural and realistic. Junaid Siddique's editing is ok but he could have chopped a few scenes to avoid the lags in the narration. Lakshmi Bhupala's dialogues are emotional, heart-touching, and at the same time simple. Lakshmi Bhupala's screenplay is ok but could have been better for most of the parts. Production values of Swapna Cinema and Mitravinda Movies are good.
Altogether, Anni Manchi Sakunamule makes it a tedious watch. Nandini Reddy got the optimum out of the supporting cast and is helped by spirited performances from Santosh Sobhan and Malvika Nair. But a wafer-thin story, artificial emotions at times, tedious screenplay, and poor writing affected the already predictable plot within no time. Considering all these elements, Cinejosh goes with a 2.25 Rating for Anni Manchi Sakunamule.