Manam Movie Reviews

Story

The film starts off with a past where Radha Mohan (Naga Chaitanya) and Krishnaveni (Samanta) have a kid Nageshwar (Nagarjuna). With a troubled marriage, they head for divorce but tragedy strikes them and the couple dies in a car accident. In the present, Nageshwar (Nagarjuna) becomes a successful businessman yet misses his loving parents and in a shocking development he comes across Nag (Naga Chaitanya) and Priya (Samantha) who resembles his parents Radha Mohan and Krishnaveni.

Nageswar decides to unite Nag and Priya and in the process he meets Anjali (Shriya), a doctor. Chaitanya(ANR) gets a shock seeing Nageshwar and Anjali together as they resemble his parents Seetharamudu and Rama Lakshmi (played again by Nagarjuna and Shriya). Now, how these characters connected and what are with these rebirths and reunites, sums up the story.

Performances

It’s a delight to watch all the Akkineni family stars sharing the screens and the casting is perfect for Manam.

Legendary ANR’s presence makes a great impact. He has a terrific screen presence and despite he has limited role, he leaves us an incredible impression in the end that it is his film. It’s just a treat to watch ANR. Yes ANRlivesON!!!

Nagarjuna looks very handsome and plays his role to perfection. He is at ease in romantic, fun, cute and emotional scenes. It’s a very special film for Nagarjuna and he delivers one of the finest performances.

Naga Chaitanya evolves as an actor and he showed good variations with his two different shade roles. His rom-com scenes are a good watch.

Samantha bags a very good role in the movie and she is very impressive in two different roles. Samantha and Nagarjuna steal the show with beautiful scenes.

Shriya Saran did a commendable job. She shares a wonderful chemistry with Nagarjuna.

And the surprise of the film Akhil Akkineni made a cameo appearance and the director has elevated the scene quite well. He looked handsome and has striking screen presence. Big B Amitabh’s cameo is good. Sapthagiri entertains while Brahmanandam, Ali haven’t had much to do.

Technical Analysis

PS Vinod’s Cinematography is absolutely flawless. Set in different time-periods from the early 1930’s to the current period, the camera work is crucial and PS Vinod creates magic on-screens.

Anup Rubens musical scores have already become chartbusters and the songs are a visual delight to watch. His background score is an asset for the movie carrying the feel-good factor throughout.

Harshavardhan does a good job with his writing skills. Dialogues are heart-warming. Editing is neat. Thumbs up for director Vikram Kumar for his novel story and very impressive direction. Screenplay is innovative and neatly handled. Despite the complex storyline, it looked quit simple yet beautiful on-screens. Production values of Annapurna Studios are rich.

Analysis

Manam is a fun-filled, beautiful emotional love saga which has theme of reuniting with your lost loved ones in re-births. Director Vikram Kumar handles the script effectively and executes it brilliantly. The story is novel and casting is perfect. Each and every frame looks like a painting.

Bringing the three generation actors together and that too with a novel yet contemporary story like Manam is not an easy job and kudos to Vikram Kumar who has done a wonderful job making it such simplified. Despite different threads and time periods from 1930’s to 2013, each and every relation has been handled effectively without confusion.

It has right mix of love, comedy, romance and emotions that family audiences would love to watch. Scenes involving the three generation actors are humorous while Nagarjuna-Shriya’s flashback scenes, Chaitanya-Samantha’s chemistry and not to forget the fabulous Nagarjuna-Samantha scenes which have worked quite well due to amazing screenplay. Though you feel few scenes look repeated, the film is carried with good pace. The director has maintained a feel good factor throughout the movie. A few more scenes of ANR could have been an icing on the cake. Nevertheless, Manam is a beautifully made movie and is an example of a good team work, the entire cast and crew did an amazing job.