Mangalavaram Cast: Payal Rajput, Ajmal Ameer, Nandita Sweta, Chaitanya Krishna, Ajay Ghosh, Divya Pillai, Ravindra Vijay, and others
Crew:
Cinematography: Sivendra Dasaradhi
Editor: Madhav Kumar Gullapalli
Music : Ajaneesh Loknath
Producers : Swathi Gunupati , Suresh Varma M
Writer-director: Ajay Bhupathi
Mangalavaram Movie Rating: 2.5/5
Payal Rajput and Ajay Bhupathi delivered a surprise blockbuster with their first combination film, RX100. They have joined hands again for Mangalavaram and makers promised a never touched upon subject has been explored. Touted as an erotic thriller, movie released on 17th November, 2023. Let’s discuss about it in detail.
Plot:
In a village, people with illicit relationships commit suicides after they are exposed. Villagers wonder who is writing about these relationships. SI Maya(Nandita Shwetha) asks for postmortem of the bodies. But Zamindar(Chaitanya Krishna) opposes and entire village supports him. Maya promises to chase the mystery some day. Doctor(Ravindra Vijay) seems suspicious with his dunkard behaviour.
Another Tuesday, one more pair die after their illicit relationship is exposed. Photographer(Shravan Reddy) and another person get into a brawl because photographer is suspected. Doctor suddenly finds a ghost and calls her Shailaja(Payal Rajput). What happened to Shailaja? Who is exposing these illicit relationships? Why these particular people are being targeted? Watch Mangalavaram movie to know more.
Analysis:
Ajay Bhupathi came up with a complete erotic romance in RX100. The purpose for erotism and bold scenes was clear in the film. In his next attempt, Mahasamudram, people did not like his approach. Now, in Mangalavaram, he again went back to erotic thriller narrative. While he tried to take a novel point, he could not bring it home like, once Yandamuri Veerendranath used to do. Taking a disorder and then try to create melodrama around it, doesn’t help every time. Some disorders need more explicit explanation and clever handling than just tittilation.
The disorder talked about in this movie doesn’t have a proper triggering point or explanation. It just feels like a google search about a certain behaviour yielded some material to write and they created story. It doesn’t rise above the baseline explanation and metaphors don’t land, too. Almost, it feels like Ajay wanted to make something like Vamai’s Anveshana and reversed some behaviours. Movie doesn’t completely stick to the point or talk about the issue in hand with necessary focus. It tries to be a lot of things at the same time, and ends up being a lousy attempt.
Chaitanya Krishna and Payal Rajput deliver good performances among the cast. Ajay Ghosh character is used as a comedian but doesn’t leave any impact. Ajmal Ameer character almost feels like a rehash of Padaharella Vayasulo doctor role. Divya Pillai looked good but failed to deliver. Ajaneesh Loknath’s BGM and music, visuals save the movie from being a total miss. Overall, writing needed to handle the complex disorder and twists even better. Climax doesn’t live up to the build up and hence, it feels sub-standard.
Positives:
Payal Rajput performance
Few performances
Ajaneesh Loknath Music
Visuals
Negatives:
Over-stretched portions
Lazy handling of the disorder
Pointless Twists
Random edits
Mangalavaram Movie Bottom-line: Lousy and unconvincing.
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