The movie is the perfect definition of an Arts & Science class.
Rating : 2.5/5
Tagline : Interestingly Boring
Tagline : Interestingly Boring
Manu is one of those low budget movies with potential the crowd craves for these days. Since the teaser, the promotions done to the film probably costed more to the team than the budget of the movie itself. Everything said "Manu" has one of the most interesting trailers cut in the recent days in Tollywood and it played a major part in promotions. Let's see if this movie produced by crowd lives up to the hype.
Manu is the movie of two lovebirds Manu (Raja Gautam) and Neela (Chandini Chowdary) who unite for a cause set out in the backdrop of a place called Sia, the reason for the cause being the murder of Neela's father in the quest of a diamond. Will the pair succeed? What consequences do they face forms the story.
The lead pair Raja Gautam (Manu) and Chandini (Neela) are soul of the film. They have done an exceptional job, especially Raja Gautam's acting is too good. I don't think anyone other than Chandini would have done a better job. Her costumes were excellent. The other gangsters are passable.
Manu is directed by the debutant Phanindra Narisetti who has done one of the best short films I have seen, "Madhuram". The soul of that short film was it's dialogues. They have a deep meaning and a poetic approach. The short film runtime is about 30 minutes. The same poetic approach when it is applied to a 180 minute movie, you kind of lose your attention midway. Being brutally honest, we were raised whistling for the grandeur in Rajamouli movie, one-liners of Puri Jagan, Brahmi comedy in a Srinu Vaitla film and the jumping sumos scenes in a V.V.Vinayak movie. We just cannot breathe freely in a movie with 3 hours of poetry.
I am not saying that there is nothing other than poetry in the movie but the most part of it has poetry embedded in every frame of it and I don't blame Phanindra Narsetti fo that. It is his way of story-telling and he is a master in it. Besides all this stuff is an interesting mystery thriller plot which keeps you on the edge of your seats. If you are into those english movies where you need to follow every frame of the movie to get a clear picture of what's happening, Manu belongs to that genre. The movie ahead of time and behind the time within no time. So, you got to keep up with the screenplay and understand what's going on.
The plot is very interesting but the movie starts off on a very slow note and there are few scenes which just test your patience like the multiple phone ring sequences, the calling bell sequences and a few more where the director focuses too much on those minute things to create that gripping impact but it gets frustrating after a point. The love story in the second half lasts for about 45 minutes with just dialogues between Manu and Neela which feels kind of dragged. The music by Naresh Kumaran was very gripping. He did a commendable job. Cinematography was good.
The hero is an art enthusiast in the movie and the heroine is intrigued by the wonders Chemistry does. After every scene in the movie, there is an artistic or a scientific explanation from either the hero or the heroine about it which makes Manu a perfect definition of an Arts & Science class. To be fair, this movie if edited to a runtime of 90 to 100 minutes would make it brilliant to watch. Nevertheless, there is enough to keep you glued to your seats in the movie but it could have been an amazing experience had the runtime been a little shorter.
-Chaitanya Somavajhala(@ChaitanSrk)
Manu is the movie of two lovebirds Manu (Raja Gautam) and Neela (Chandini Chowdary) who unite for a cause set out in the backdrop of a place called Sia, the reason for the cause being the murder of Neela's father in the quest of a diamond. Will the pair succeed? What consequences do they face forms the story.
The lead pair Raja Gautam (Manu) and Chandini (Neela) are soul of the film. They have done an exceptional job, especially Raja Gautam's acting is too good. I don't think anyone other than Chandini would have done a better job. Her costumes were excellent. The other gangsters are passable.
Manu is directed by the debutant Phanindra Narisetti who has done one of the best short films I have seen, "Madhuram". The soul of that short film was it's dialogues. They have a deep meaning and a poetic approach. The short film runtime is about 30 minutes. The same poetic approach when it is applied to a 180 minute movie, you kind of lose your attention midway. Being brutally honest, we were raised whistling for the grandeur in Rajamouli movie, one-liners of Puri Jagan, Brahmi comedy in a Srinu Vaitla film and the jumping sumos scenes in a V.V.Vinayak movie. We just cannot breathe freely in a movie with 3 hours of poetry.
I am not saying that there is nothing other than poetry in the movie but the most part of it has poetry embedded in every frame of it and I don't blame Phanindra Narsetti fo that. It is his way of story-telling and he is a master in it. Besides all this stuff is an interesting mystery thriller plot which keeps you on the edge of your seats. If you are into those english movies where you need to follow every frame of the movie to get a clear picture of what's happening, Manu belongs to that genre. The movie ahead of time and behind the time within no time. So, you got to keep up with the screenplay and understand what's going on.
The plot is very interesting but the movie starts off on a very slow note and there are few scenes which just test your patience like the multiple phone ring sequences, the calling bell sequences and a few more where the director focuses too much on those minute things to create that gripping impact but it gets frustrating after a point. The love story in the second half lasts for about 45 minutes with just dialogues between Manu and Neela which feels kind of dragged. The music by Naresh Kumaran was very gripping. He did a commendable job. Cinematography was good.
The hero is an art enthusiast in the movie and the heroine is intrigued by the wonders Chemistry does. After every scene in the movie, there is an artistic or a scientific explanation from either the hero or the heroine about it which makes Manu a perfect definition of an Arts & Science class. To be fair, this movie if edited to a runtime of 90 to 100 minutes would make it brilliant to watch. Nevertheless, there is enough to keep you glued to your seats in the movie but it could have been an amazing experience had the runtime been a little shorter.
-Chaitanya Somavajhala(@ChaitanSrk)