With not much tempting flicks in the horizon, I havent been watching much movies in the past month or so. However, last weekend saw the release of the Telugu movie "Mahanati" which has been dubbed into Tamil & Malayalam as well. Incidentally, the reason why I decided to check it out was because it marked the debut of Dulquer Salmaan in Telugu. It also happened to be the biopic on Savithri, the first female superstar of the South Indian film industry. So was the film able to do justice to the stature of the legendary actress???
Madhuravani (Samantha Akkineni) who had completed journalism in flying colours was on the lookout for a meaty story that would boost her career. Her editor entrusted her with the task of covering the news on Savithri (Keerthy Suresh)who had been in coma for more than a year. Reluctantly she takes up the task but with time, she realizes that there was more to Savithri than being just a famous actress of her era.
The challenge of creating this biopic was taken up Nag Ashwin & without further ado, I would like to applaud him on a job well done. It was not a cakewalk by any stretch of imagination as it had to be engrossing, captivating & unbiased. Siddharth Sivasamy's screenplay was brilliant as it effectively weaved the various turmoils that Savithra went through into the plot & narrated it from a third person's perspective. The tragic love story between Gemini Ganesan & Savithri, her philanthropy, her incredible acting skills etc. all of which has been impressively captured by Ashwin. One of the main highlights of the movie for me was Mickey Meyer's fantastic music which took the celluloid creation to a whole different level. All the technical aspects were top notch be it Dani Sanchez's visuals, Kotagiri's editing, art direction etc. However, the CGI that was used to show NTR was downright pathetic.
Frankly speaking, I never believed Keerthy Suresh quite had the skills to pull off such a meaty role. But my word, she just blew my mind as she was marvelous & virtually lived as the protagonist. It would be fair to say that she looked very similar to Savithri in many sequences & she has used it to her advantage. In short, I expect her to to walk away with all the major awards next year. When it was announced that Dulquer will be essaying the role of Gemini Ganesan, I seriously had my doubts especially since he doesnt look anything like the legend. However, hats off to him for playing his part with elan & effortlessly showing the character's attitude. Samantha rocked in her role along with a host of others like Rajendra Prasad, Mohan Babu, Prakash Raj etc while Vijay Antony was average.
Verdict: As per the latest reports, it has grossed about 30 C at the box office over the past 10 days. It's definitely a brilliant movie & deserves an audience not only for Ashwin's making but for Keerthy's superlative performance as well. In short, dont miss it!!!
Rating: 4/5
Regards...Ben
