Movie Review: 'Maa Inti Bangaaram'

Movie Review: ‘Maa Inti Bangaram'

Actors: Samantha, Dighanth, Gulshan Devaiah, Gauthami, Sreemukhi, Anand, Krishna Chaitanya, Srinivas Gavireddy and others

Music: Santosh Narayanan

Cinematography: Om Prakash

Producers: Raj Nidimoru, Samantha, Himank Reddy

Written by: Raj Nidimoru and Vasanth Mariganti

Directed by: Nandini Reddy

Samantha has an image similar to that of some star heroes in Tollywood. After a short gap in her career, she has done a solo lead with “Maa Inti Bangaaram”. As the film hits cinemas today, let’s have a look at it.

STORY:

In the 90s, Swarna (Samantha) enters a big family that resides in Ballavaram in the Rayalaseema region, as a daughter-in-law. As Anirudha (Dhiganth) marries her long time ago without the knowledge of his family, initially it will be awkward for her inside. What would Swarna do to impress Anirudh’s family, and what’s her flashback that still haunts us, forms the rest of the story.

NARRATION-ANALYSIS:

Stories where a hero who looks soft and common on the outside, but has a terrific flashback and heroism inside, are quite common. A simple autodriver Manikyam ends up saying ‘I’ve another name, Basha’, thereby taking Telugu audiences for a ride. Later on, many films ran on the Basha screenplay format, and audiences got bored and tired of that. However, for a change, this time instead of a hero, a heroine has picked up that time. Maa Inti Bangaram deals with the story of a girl who has a terrified flashback, and now when she enters a family to live a simple life, things will be dealt differently. The comedy sequences involving family and the action sequences showcasing the heroine have worked out well. However, as the storyline turns out to be too basic, routing flashback and boring villain have never made the film cross the ‘average’ border. But Samantha succeeded in entertaining the audience for two and a half hours.

Star heroines with a hero-like image are rare. IIn south, we have the likes of Vijayasanti first, Anushka later, and have impressed with their action-centric films. Nayantara got labelled for her emotional-centric movies. But then, Samantha impressed with comedy, action and emotions in Maa Inti Bangaaram, thus carrying the whole film on her shoulders. Though the film has no special nuances expected from a Raj Nidimoru writing, it runs entirely on Samantha’s performance, connecting us to the screen every time she sizzles there. As Jhansi alias Swarna, the character design fumbles a bit, but Samantha stands out in the role, engaging us from the word go to the last end-card shot.

The whole first half revolves around what happens when a village’s headman’s elder son marries a girl secretly and returns home after years. The narrative runs around how this girl who doesn’t fit in a village setup tries all things at hand to make her husband and herself mingle into the family again. From that Tulasi plant worship scene to how the heroine plans a strategy for cooking, all are entertaining. While simple scenes spread huge laughs, action sequences are also catchy. But then, after looking at this stuff, a lot of expectations develop for the flashback, but it didn’t work. We expect a lot from a villain like Gulshan Devaiah, but it pans out like ordinary. Even the story never amazes us at any point. Just the engaging family sequences never bore the audience, and Maa Inti Bangaaram could be a one-time watch on that note.

PERFORMANCES:

Samantha’s last Telugu outing, Shaakuntalam, has shown Samantha in a miscast role; however, this time she chose a perfect one in Maa Inti Bangaaram. With her all-around performance, she impressed with family emotions, stunning action stunts and then amazing comedy timing. The biggest attraction for this movie is only Samantha and her performance. Dighanth, who acted as Samantha’s husband, is restricted to a limited role, though he delivered a good performance. As a villain, Gulshan Devaiah showcased his mettle here and there, but hasn’t shone like expected. That’s due to the improper writing. Among other roles, the girl who did Samantha’s friend role is interesting. Other actors like Gauthami, Anand, and Sreelakshmi showed their expertise. Chaitanya Krishna, Sreemukhi and Srinivas Gavireddy did well.

TECHNICALITIES:

Inside ‘Maa Inti Bangaaram’, almost all the technicians have showcased their talents. Santosh Narayan’s background score is the main highlight of the movie. He crafted BGM as per the sequences, and created perfect elevations when needed. The only song, Tassadiyya, in the movie is good. Cinematographer Om Prakash created the 90s environment and visuals very well, and the village episodes are shot superbly. Production values are good. Though the script provided by Raj Nidimoru and Vasanth Maganti has a few sparks, more is expected from Raj, especially in the flashback and villain track. Raj’s mark is truly missing out. Nandini Reddy conceived the scenes well. She showed her touch in comedy scenes, and shot action sequences well. However, the audience expects more from Raj and Nandini in terms of writing and directing.

Finally: Maa Inti Bangaaram, A Samantha’s Show

Rating: 2.75/5