Plot:
Bhaktavatsala Naidu (Mohan Babu) has two wives named Suryakantham (Meena) and Priyamvada (Ramya Krishna). He marries each of them without other’s notice and continues to stay in separate families for 25 years. Naidu and Suryakantham have a daughter Shruti (Poorna) and Gautham Naidu (Varun Sandesh) is the son of Naidu and Priyamvada. Naidu gets a doubt that his kids Shruti and Gautham might fall in love because they are unaware of their brother-sister relationship. He brings Balaraju (Allari Naresh) to create a rift between Gautham and Shruti. Things take a turn when Balaraju falls for Shruti and the Tom and Jerry game begins between him and Naidu. Who would win the race? Will Naidu eventually control the aggression of Balaraju? How will the story of Naidu’s two wives end up? –forms the rest of the plot.
Performances:
Mohan Babu: Mohan Babu is in his usual energetic self and managed to get a character with good potential. But the poor manner in which his character was designed does the damage. It is better if he keeps an eye on his body language from now on.
Allari Naresh: It is a surprise why Allari Naresh gave a nod for this script. Usually the audience would expect a lot from an actor’s 50th film. He didn’t have any special comedy timing for this character either.
Ramya Krishna and Meena: They have little role to play and their characters are quite pale. But because of their screen presence, they looked quite dignified on screen.
Others: Poorna does a mediocre role. Ali tried very hard to generate laughs but failed in the department. Krishna Bhagawan who usually entertains with comedy roles is seen in a serious role.
Analysis:
Even a perfectionist tends to do some mistake at some point of time. In a career spanning for 40 years, Mohan Babu witnessed thumping success along with some setbacks. There would be certain mistakes which are intentionally done and Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu undoubtedly falls in that category. One would easily wonder why should such a story be bought paying lakhs of money from Marathi! We would even feel sorry for Allari Naresh to choose this as his 50th film instead of opting for a solo film. There is no thump in the story and we have witnessed lot of one hero two wives stories in Telugu Cinema.
In fact, Mohan Babu’s Allari Mogudu was one such film. In short, this film is like a sequel for Allari Mogudu. The storytelling and screenplay progresses in an old fashioned way. One would even doubt whether it is a 2015 film or a film from the 60s. Some sequences go on in a dragging fashion. None of the characterizations are strong either. It is easily evident that many mistakes happened in the script stage itself. The only saving grace was the Tom and Jerry sequences between Mohan Babu and Allari Naresh but even that fails to entertain. As a result, the whole film goes off the track.
Merits:
-Casting
-Mohan Babu and Allari Naresh sequences
Demerits:
-Old fashioned story telling
-Lack of strong characterizations
-Poor dialogue writing
-No strong story
Music:
Songs are below average and the tunes lack freshness even with two composers. Koti’s re-recording featured most of Mohan Babu’s old songs instead of new tunes. The song Gopilola from Ladies Tailor was repeatedly heard. In short, there was no sync between the situation and the background score.
Technical Aspects:
Sridhar Seepana’s dialogues lack clarity and below average. He struggled to get the rhyming right. The film speaks of team failure in all departments.
Verdict:
Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu has nothing new to offer and fails to entertain with old fashioned comedy.