Shiva Kandukuri's Manu Charitra directed by Bharat Pedagani generated interest with youthful teasers and trailers. The film's OTT rights are yet to be finalized. The film hit the screens on 23 June 2023. Let us find out what Manu Charitra offered to movie lovers.
Manu Charitra's story is about a youngster's life journey and his love stories with various beautiful girls and where this leads to eventually. Manu (Shiva Kandukuri) leads a wayward life quitting jobs after every month and wooing beautiful girls and after winning their hearts, breaking the relationships.
Why Manu is behaving in this manner, what is his connection to beautiful girls Jennifer (Megha Akash), Jaanu (Pragathi Shrivatsav), Stella (Harshita Chowdhary), Aisha (Garima Kaushal), and Shravya (Priya Vadlamani), and what link Warangal Mayor Janardhan( Srikanth Iyengar), his aides Rudra Pratap (Daali Dhananjaya), Manu's friends Nandu (Suhaas) and Sunil (Madhunandan) has form the rest of the story.
Shiva Kandukuri worked hard for his role. Till now he played soft roles and this time, he did a role which is soft and rough touch. The rough and rugged look suited him turning him macho on the screen. He tried his best to come up with intense expressions and emotions. He lived in his role and brought life to the character. For most of the part, he succeeded. At crucial times, he elevated the scenes. Shiva Kandukuri should be commended for trying something different. A little bit of fine-tuning will propel him to another level.
Megha Akash did an important role. She looked good on screen. She however got limited screen presence. Priya Vadlamani who played the role of Shravya got a good screen presence and she is ok in her role. Harshita Chowdhary is oozed glamor while Garima Chowdhary is ok in her role. Pragathi Shrivastav who played the role of Jaanu stole the hearts of all with her cute looks and beautiful expressions. She also emoted quite well. Suhas got a good role and he played with conviction. Madhunandan got a limited role.
Srikanth Iyengar is good in his role. But the entire show is dominated by Daali Dhananjaya. He as Rudra Pratap elevated the scenes with his impactful performance. He looked menacing and at the same time caring in his role. Whenever he appeared on the screen, the aura lifted the intensity and elevated the scenes to another level. Others performed according to their roles.
Manu Charitra's story readied by director Bharath Pedagani is an intense love story. He started the narration in an interesting manner with scenes relating to the politics and the Mayor and shifts to the romantic elements after the action-packed intro of the protagonist. This increased the curiosity levels among movie lovers. He continued the interest levels with the hero going on proposing to each and every beautiful girl and then parting ways with them.
Director then narrated the interesting flashback and the reason behind the protagonist's weird behavior. He then turned to the hero's new love story and it looked cute, beautiful, and appealing on the screen. He interweaved all these developments with intense political developments. The scenes featuring Shiva Kandukuri, Dolly Dhananjaya, Shiva Kandukuri, and Pragathi Shrivatsav took the film to another level. Though the story has Arjun Reddy and RX100 shades, Bharat Pedagani ensured that the interest levels are maintained with his screenplay and direction.
The editing of Pravin Pudi could have been better and the film's duration could have been trimmed by 15 minutes. There are many drags that slowed the pace of the film. Rahul Srivatsav's cinematography is good and in sync with the story. He showed the Warangal city quite well. Gopi Sunder with his BGM elevated the scenes. All the songs are beautifully shot and the songs are melodious and beautiful to watch on the screen. Songs stand out to be the highlight of the film. Few dialogues are good and others are ordinary. Production values of Proddutur Talkies are decent.
Altogether, Manu Charitra is an intense love story. Bharat Pedagani on debut decided to show Shiva Kandukuri in a rugged role in Manu Charitra. He emerged successful in his attempt and it gives a new image to Shiva Kandukuri which will add value to his portfolio. Bharat Pedagani loaded intense elements narrating the political and romantic elements blending it well but the deviation in the first half with a romantic track diluted his intentions. Had he toned down the romantic elements and focussed on showing political and romantic developments at a fast pace, he would have scored more brownie points. However, Bharat Pedagani on debut did a decent job and showed that he has the potential and if he executes well he can outshine himself. He already proved that with a routine and predictable story like Manu Charitra, he increased the intensity with screenplay and direction. With a little fine-tuning of the script and a tighter screenplay, the result would have been even better. Considering all these points, Cinejosh goes with a 2.75 Rating for Manu Charitra.