Mana Kurralle Review

Behind the Movie Mana Kurralle: Director Veera Shankar is familiarized with ‘Gudumba Shankar’ and he is back now with this film made on an interesting plot dealt on burning current issues. Starring Arvind Krishna, Rachna Malhotra, Kalyan, Krishnudu, Shruti Raj etc in leads, let us get into review.

In the Movie Mana Kurralle: Story begins with introduction of times during 2007 when young generation was running behind IT jobs in parallel leading to real estate boom in and around metro cities. Reason behind all this is Globalization. Movie is about lives of four friends from from Sri Rama Puram village, Lachchu (Arvind Krishna), a jobless and energetic guy; DS (Krishnudu), dealing real estate ventures in the name of Bangaru Bhumi projects; Suri (Kalyan), a software engineer with enormous respect to his elder brother cum Sarpanch Rama Raju (Rao Ramesh) and Appu aka Suryakanth (Venkat), an aspiring actor.

How did all of them react when Government decides to encroach upon their village lands in the name of SEZ (Special Economic Zone)? What happened to Lachchu’s love interest Sharada (Rachna Malhotra) and Suri’s bride Vara Lakshmi (Shruti Raj) in the due process of the struggle forms the rest.

Values of the Movie Mana Kurralle: Exact plot is about uniting the youth force of India for a common cause to save our country from the hands of globalization. Well, the subject is diverse and needs to cover many burning topics in current society like IT jobs, Real Estate Boom and Doom, SEZ, Government policies, Land Diversion, Displacement and Rehabilitation etc. 

Director Veera Shankar had a strong story to showcase cultural heritage and power of Indian youth in changing the face of globe. In contrast, he also had a feeble script with poorly performing artists which killed the basic essence. Serious subjects of this kind need to have solid star cast to nail the characters deep into our heads. Veera Shankar tried his best. He has well conceived the differentiating good times of Software engineers with bad, frustrating times filled in them presently. Development needs to be human faced and beating at fundamental cultural roots can keep the so called modern civilization under big threat. The thought process of director needs to be appreciated. However, the narration missed in soul with wayward story movement. Only before pre-climax with a united struggle against SEZs, the whole movie gets into shape. Dialogues from Veera Shankar had a strong message to convey. Malik’s camera work was just okay while Baswa Paidireddy’s is just passable. Music scored by bunch of composers Bheems, Mohan Jona, Gurukiran, Raj etc is a mixed bag. Production values of Veera Shankar Silver Screens are also average.

About performances, the less we speak more it is better. Except Rao Ramesh, none of the main leads could add a kicking punch. Arvind Krishna continues to annoy with weak and miserable body language. Rachna Malhotra has nothing much to do. Kalyan looked uncomfortable. Venkat, being a senior to all of these artists was bearable. Shruti Raj was looking good. Among the rest, none needs a mention.

Out of the Movie Mana Kurralle: As the film is being postponed several times, very few people are informed about the release. Despite directing a vigorous subject which has the power to connect with socially enlightened Telugu viewers, Veera Shankar failed in executing the same to perfection. Individual episodes shot in establishing each of the main characters were faintly dealt. When they are combined together to fight for a cause, then came some solidarity. Touching lot many subplots, he could not do justice for either. More cumbersome was to tolerance the sub standard performances and disturbance creating songs. 

All in all, ‘Mana Kurralle’ is a poorly executed film with substantial message. Problem lied in hitting the right note at right time. As a writer, Veera Shankar work is noticeable and as a director, he is dejected and miserable. Commercially, there are no hopes.

Cinejosh Verdict of Mana Kurralle: Failed to Nail the Message.

                                                        Cinejosh Rating: 2/5

                                                                            Reviewed by Srivaas