AKKINENIS’ ‘NAG’NUM OPUS

Manam’ should have released last year when the country was celebrating ‘100 Years of Indian Cinema’. The easy, breezy, quirky love story which is experimental in its storyline, novel in its screenplay and innovative in casting three actors of the generations from the same family is certainly a landmark movie, if not a masterpiece, in Tollywood and would have been apt for the milestone year. Anyway, it’s not too late.

Brace yourself to watch a movie where ANR is a funky old man named Chaitanya and gives youngsters a run for their money; spirited young actors like Naga Chaitanya and Samantha look like a much-married and harried couple. And the dapper looking Nagarjuna calls his real life son Naga Chaitanya as ‘Nanna’ and Chai is actually ANR’s grandfather. Stumped? Well that’s where the kahani mein twists lie.

The credit goes to director Vikram Kumar for resisting the temptation to use a routine story involving a father, son and grandson. The surprises start coming right from the first frame where we see Nagarjuna (Chaitanya) and his wife (Samantha) passing away in an accident leaving their six-year-old son Nageshwar orphaned. The boy grows up to become a successful businessman who can never come to terms with missing his parents. Suddenly he bumps into a youngster who is a replica of his late dad. That’s when he realizes that he has been given a great opportunity to experience the love of his parents. Now that he is convinced that his dad had a rebirth, he goes looking for his mom. Lo and behold, he finds her bang next to him. Just when you think the family lives happily ever after, comes another U-turn. An 80-year-old Chaitanya (ANR) sees his late father in Nageshwar and mom in Dr Anjali (Shriya). So what we have is a real life grandfather, father and son in the reverse chronological order. The next half hour is a merry mix of hilarious mix-ups, a few light moments, a handful of feel-good scenes, etc. The climax is about whether the sons manage to get their parents back in this birth and how.

The way Vikram Kumar builds up repeat scenes at the right time without making it look boring, how he weaves the various loose ends to gloriously coincide with 10.20 am on February 14 with all the ominous signs of yet another fatal accident are brilliantly executed. Tiny innovations like replacing ‘I Love You’ with ‘Ila ivvu’ and the idea to name ANR as Chaitanya and Nag as Nageshwar add to the refreshing cinematic taking. However, he takes many cinematic liberties in bringing back people to life and giving them a rebirth complete with their birthmarks without any logic whatsoever.

Oh yes, the way alcohol consumption is glorified is plain outrageous. It almost looked like soft marketing of the liquor lobby. Naga Chaitanya is either drinking, has got drunk or about to drink in almost every scene. And the song ‘Pee lo’ is in plain bad taste.

ANR’s role is short and sweet and he elicits the maximum response from the audience and desirably so. Nagarjuna acts as the anchor for the story and puts up a great show, perhaps, his finest in the last five years. His handsome looks are amply matched up by trendy outfits. Chaitanya and Samantha live in the roles of a forever bickering couple. The few romantic moments they share are rich in chemistry. Shriya, who is paired up with Nagarjuna reminds you of her ‘Nenunnanu’ days. Akhil Akkineni, the little Sisindri who debuted in the 90s, makes a special appearance to prove that he’s got what it takes to get the crowd chanting his name and is all set to take off from where ANR left. ‘Manam’ can very much be a ‘family, family anta’ affair as long as you can ignore the booze promotions and Chaitanya ogling at the woman’s behind and also if you love family dramas sans violence, item songs, punchy dialogues and all that jazz that mark masala flicks.