Manada Kadalu Review: Navigating Choppy Emotional Waters

S Shyam Prasad

Manada Kadalu is a typical Yograj Bhat film that packs everything you expect from the director. It combines great visuals with funky dialogues, whacky songs and rascally pranks developed into scenes in an out-and-out teenage time pass movie perfectly positioned as a coming-of-age film.

An unexpected death disillusions medical student Sumukha (eponymous role by Sumukha) who drops out of his MBBS course and becomes a wanderer. But it is only a matter of time before he falls in love with a girl and decides it is his purpose in life to woo her. His affair soon turns out to be a love triangle with Rashika and her friend Anjali (eponymous roles by the two again).

Bhat, who has also penned the script, throws in a bunch of intriguing and mysterious elements into this mix to conjure up some cinematic magic. There is the incurable amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) affecting Rashika which an enigmatic traditional healer (played by Dattanna) promises to cure. Rangayana Raghu who plays a tribal leader desperately trying to marry off his five daughters and the pidgin created for his tribe (including a song) provides laughs. Continuing his tradition of showcasing exotic locales, the director stations most of the film in the picturesque Janjira fort. An impressive waterfall forms the backdrop for an important scene and a wild tiger too makes a cameo.

The first half of the film flies like a breeze, simulating and cool. The second half comparatively is a little more unhurried and takes it time to lug itself to the climax. There aren’t big surprises in the story and no grand suspense elements either. It is all a feel-good presentation with eye-candy images catering to audiences who have had enough of bloodshed on the screen.

Sumukha displays natural talent in his performance and is a good prospect for Sandalwood. Anjali combines sensuous looks with acting abilities that should put her career on a super drive. Rashika is another good prospect. Making the film so worthwhile are V Harikrishna’s music (ably enhanced by the lyricists and singers) and Santhosh Rai Pathaje’s cinematography.