'Mr Majnu' Movie Review
Akhil Akkineni’s Mr. Majnu is a romantic drama directed by Tholi Prema fame Venky Atluri. The director has once again shown his command over handling romance dramas. Mr. Majnu has enough entertainment and drama to fetch the first hit for Akhil.
What is it about?
Vicky aka Vikram Krishna (Akhil) has a problem with longtime relationships. Despite knowing his flirtatious attitude, Nikki (Nidhi) falls for him. However, Vicky couldn’t reciprocate the love to Nikki and they separate. Now Vicky realizes his love for Nikki and goes to win her back.
Performances:
Akhil is stylish, suave and very much believable as the guy who can win any girl. Besides his handsome looks and fit physique, Akhil has come up with a very good performance as Vicky. He has the talent and attitude to compete against the best. Nidhi Agarwal is good looking but the character demands a better performer. Priyadarshi and Adhi offers humor as the hero’s sidekicks in the first half and second half respectively. All the senior actors like Nagababu, Sitara and Rao Ramesh have done a neat job. Subbaraju is good as the tough looking guy with a soft heart.
Technicalities:
Venky Atluri is talented enough to make a routine story work with his narrative skills. His story doesn’t offer any freshness, but the treatment makes it click with neatly sprinkled emotions and well written dialogue. He knows the elements that would click with the youth and also does a fine job in handling emotions.
Thaman who had done a fabulous job in Tholi Prema has impressed with his work again. Mr. Majnu has some very good songs and a fine background score. Cinematographer George C. Williams cinematography is the highlight. The color palette and the warm tones make it a pleasant viewing experience. Editing is okay and the production values are rich.
Thumbs Up:
Akhil’s look and performance
First half
Emotions
Thumbs Down:
Cliched portions in second half
Analysis:
Mr. Majnu is a straightforward film that can be easily guessed by anybody where it is headed to. It has a predictable storyline with a serious girl falling for a flirtatious guy. The breakup and patch up also could be guessed straightaway. Despite the predictable plot and the screenplay, Mr. Majnu works because of the well written scenes and good emotions. Although the film is predominantly about the differences between the boy and girl, director Venky works the family emotions around in an impressive way.
The biggest challenge for the director is to convince the viewers about the serious girl falling for a guy with such a ‘loose’ character. And Venky has done a tremendous job in making so. There are some fine scenes between Akhil, Rao Ramesh and Jaya Prakash that will strike a chord with the viewers. Also the non-commitment of the protagonist’s character towards the female protagonist has been established well.
First half is very entertaining and impressive, but the second half takes the routine route like many love stories. There is an attempt to make it entertaining with the introduction of few funny characters like an animated kid, Adhi and Subbaraju. However, the fun quotient is not enough to overlook the cliches. But what works is Akhil’s sincere performance and well thought out dialogue that saves the film from losing the interest of viewers. Venky does a good job in tying the loose ends and ending the film on an emotional note.
Mr. Majnu has a nice soundtrack that is a must for any love story to work, cool visuals and trendy characters that click with the contemporary audience. Despite the cliches and been-there-seen-that appeal, Mr. Majnu mostly works for its sincerity and simplicity. On the box office front, it should work in A centers better compared to the B and C centers.
Verdict: Akhil Steals the Show
