Maryada Ramanna - Movie Review

Action: Peter Hein
Produced by: Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni
Screenplay and directed by: S S Rajamouli
CBFC Rating: U
Release date: July 23, 2010

What?s it about!
Ramu (Sunil) loses his father in faction feuds in a village in Rayalaseema, so his mother takes him away from Rayalaseema to save her son. He grows up in Hyderabad and after his mother?s death, he tries hard to meet ends. One day, he receives a notice from the village to claim 5 acres of land, so he boards a train to the village. On board, he meets a beautiful girl Aparna (Saloni) who happens to be daughter of Ramineedu (Nagineedu). Ramineedu has been waiting to kill Ramu for years, as Ramu?s father killed Ramineedu?s brother. Aparna and Ramu become friends and Ramu comes to her house, there he learns that Ramineedu would kill him off he steps out of this house. Rest of drama is all about how Ramu saves his life.

Analysis

Three cheers to director Rajamouli, the top director of commercial entertainers in Tollywood. With Maryada Rammanna, he proves once again that he is capable of creating magic with any script or any star or non-star. Although Maryada Ramanna is complete departure from his style of films, starring a comedian as lead hero, he weaves a drama that glues the audiences to the seats without distraction. At 2 hours 10 Minutes, the film interests you till the last minute with focused narration. Near to one hour, the film runs revolves around a single house and yet you don?t feel bored. There Rajamouli triumphs completely as director and screenplay writer. Although there is not much entertainment or comedy, the narration holds the interest and puts you on guessing game how would the hero come out from the tricky position he is in and saves his life.

It is entirely Rajamouli?s film. You don?t find double meaning dialogues and excessive gore (although there is plenty of action and swords, fights, chases). Rather Rajamouli focuses on the suspense and tense moments. With some good songs by Keeravani and superb background score, the director turns the simple story into an engrossing movie.

As a narrator, what Rajamouli does best is not deviating from the plot and not inserting unnecessary comedy track by other comedians. He should be commended for it.

However, Maryada Ramanna is not devoid of minor flaws. It lacks comedy, the supposed comedy on Sunil and his antics, with bicycle talking is not that funny. And doesn?t have any awe-inspiring moments that we regularly find in Rajamouli?s movies. Other than those, Marayada Ramanna is clean fun and good fast-paced entertainer.

Performances


For any actor, shouldering a movie to almost 2 hour run time, a tough task. Especially the actor is not charismatic. But Sunil with his innocent looks and sincere performance holds the movie. He looks agile after reducing weight drastically. He doesn?t do much comedy but his expressions and the tension that he evokes is perfect. Sunil can now be a bankable lead actor.

Saloni is cute with her expressive eyes. She looks glamorous and a good pair to Sunil. Nagineedu in the role of a faction feud has right looks but his performance is not that effective. Brahmaji seems more of an uncle to Saloni than Bava. Rest of the cast is okay. Ravi Teja has lent voice to a bicycle in his typical manner.

One expects a Rajamouli?s film to be visually grand and the film doesn?t fail on it. Ram Prasad gives best output for a small film (one shot where Sunil is put up in a room, and camera is seen from the key hole angle is superb). Artwork by Ravinder is good. As the most of the movie runs in the house, his set of the house has enough space and more rooms to make the drama effective. Keeravani always give best output to Rajamouli?s movies and for Maryada Ramanna all his songs are melodious. Especially the background score and some bit songs are terrific. Production values for a low-budget movie are good. Writer S S Kanchi?s dialogues are apt for the movie. It is entirely Rajamouli?s show and he does his best. As a director, he is topnotch.

Bottom-line
Rajamouli has crafted a movie that not only elevates his name and fame but also gives paisa vasool entertainment to the audiences. Maryada Ramanna is fast-paced drama with tense moments. Sunil?s performance, good camera work, superb music and Rajamouli?s perfect narrative skills are plus points of the movie. Enjoy it.

Rating: 3.5/5

Inspiration

The film?s basic plot is taken from Our Hospitality (1923), a Hollywood silent movie. But they adopted it so effectively.