Maryada Ramanna - A Review By Sreeni R

We went to the new AGS hall in Villivakkam for the first time and lemme tell you, I was more interested in checking out the theatre rather than the movie. We were just discussing about how this movie was doing and people's reaction etc. Just the normal kind of discussions that guys usually have before they go to a movie. My friend Jaik interestingly, saw the movie in Bangalore and he was not very happy with it (Please note the word VERY). I was skeptical about this film because it had Sunil in the lead and I’ve seen his "Andhala Raamudu" which had some very good examples of Bad acting. Brother Sunil please, please, please Forgive me for being so judgmental, but sometimes truth has to be told and you being a down to earth and a very frank guy I think you will bear with me. Though I was all the time thinking why "Maryada Ramanna (MR)" after "Magadheeraa"? That is the fact which actually wanted me to watch this film.

The film started with the introduction of Ramanna who is a very poor guy who lives in Hyderabad city with 129 and odd rupees as savings and wearing, adidas shoes, a nice awesome tee and a cool shirt on top. He does not even have a vehicle as he is POOR and so only uses his old bicycle (which has been his vehicle for 20 years) which also can eventually talk (Only to itself, Rajamouli maintains Logic here. Compensation for losing logic on the Adidas shoes-poor guy analogy I guess). He loses his job as a delivery guy for a rice mandy as he can only deliver 2 sacks of rice at once on his bicycle and he cannot afford to buy an Autorickshaw, because he is POOR and he can only buy Adidas and a set of nice Levis jeans and Cool tee with a Cool shirt (I’m definitely guessing the Levis Jeans Part). lol.... Did I tell you that Rajamouli has deployed some out of the world awesome graphics for the opening song which had no connection with the film. You should definitely see this song for the effects (yes guys I’m talking about that collision-accident-thingy) Don Want to give out the story anymore, from here the movie takes a different route.

Honestly speaking, the first half was a bit sluggish for me. I did not feel that the comedy was that good, and I really found that Sunil was a wrong casting choice. Not to blame him. I really like Sunil's performance as a Comedian. He has always delivered his best in those roles. I just loved his character in "Jalsa", "Bommarillu", "Athadu" etc. I guess this responsibility called HERO was a bit overwhelming for him.

But then there was something about the movie which kept people engaged and before I got really restless the interval came. After the interval the movie started with fresh energy now I started getting interested in the film, neither did the logical flow get better nor did the class of filmmaking, but somehow it caught me I was just interested in seeing how this film would end. Then suddenly the movie gets into a hyperactive mode of awesome chases, mind games, and CAR-CHASING-CYCLE-FOR-A-GOOD-10-MINS-AND-NOT-ABLE-CATCH-IT sequences :) But I did not mind, because Rajamouli had already set the expectations rite in the first half. The message was very clear, "If you need logic, go watch Inception". So anyways I had fun watching these sequences and I truly was enjoying the second half. Then the film got into the sentimental mode, this is what I was waiting for a long time and it was quite impressive (Still no logic). I easily get moved by sentimental scenes and there I was already feeling pain for the lead actors. I thought that the film ended pretty well, and I could see that the audiences were very happy with what they were seeing.

Of course, Audience's reaction is the most important factor and that’s the fuel which keeps this business running. I did see that the comedy in the film was being enjoyed by some, Songs by some especially "Raye Raye Saloni". On the whole Rajamouli has done it again. He has churned out a perfect family film, which only focuses on entertaining the audience. Even kids were like enjoying this movie. There was one very intense scene particularly where a rowdy takes out a big knife in his hands and abuses the hero calling him as "Chunchedhavaa" and suddenly i heard a kid in the theatre repeating "Chunchedhavaa" with an equally intense expression in his voice and the entire theater roared with laughter, that scene was a pretty intense one and now it became a comedy :) credit goes to the kid. I think most of you already know that Rajamouli is one director who does not have even a single failure in his career. All his films are a hit, and not to mention "Magadheeraa" went on to break all tollywood records. Thinking about him I realized that he is an awesome smart thinker and planner. MR is an amazing change for him after Magadheera. Because people had so much expectations on Rajamouli and if he had tried some other movie with heavy budget and casting it would've resulted in heavy pressure and who knows a catastrophe if it had failed at the box office. But today he does not have that pressure. Because MR had clearly proven that he is playing his cards very safe and now people's expectation on Rajamouli would've diluted a bit and this he can be used to stun them again with another great film like Magadheera. Rajamouli is a smart chap, he thinks what is good for him, and he does it without hesitation. He knows his audience and he knows that even a decent average flick from him will not damage his image and he has done it gracefully.

Me understanding this strategy is not great thing, people should understand and you guys know what? The message clearly reached the audience, when we were coming out of the theatre most of the people were talking about the same and they understood that Rajamouli wanted to lower the expectations and pressure that was on him. How sweet is that? Everything about the film was adequate for the audience. Music, Comedy, Songs etc. Even the speaking bicycle had an amazing role to play BTW the voice was by our own Ravi Teja. Sunil's dance was very classy and it reminded me of Chiru's moves at some places.

I came out with a smile, and learnt a thing or two from Rajamouli. My respect for him only increases with this film. Go watch it if you can easily laugh. Even if you are not a easy laugher, this film will entertain you in other ways. But if you are a serious film buff and love logic, perfection, performance etc these is definitely not for you and remember that I’ve warned you.