Director Nandini Reddy’s Anni Manchi Sakunamule starts off with a unique and promising sequence, telling the tale of two families and a conflict between them over a coffee estate. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much time for the film to slip into a cliche trope that becomes the focal point of the story, causing you to lose all interest. The only motivation to watch the film from here on is curiosity — will Nandini be able to redeem the film with her own take on a story that has been done to death in the Telugu film industry?
The film’s protagonist, Rishi (Santosh Sobhan), is free-spirited and believes in ‘living in the moment’, a luxury he can afford because of his rich father. His father, Prasad (Rajendra Prasad), sees his free-spirited nature as irresponsibility. He is also poor at academics, and often lands in trouble. On the contrary, Arya (Malavika Nair) is meticulous and calculated, once again qualities that have to do with her class status and ‘pedigree’. Whenever Rishi tries to become closer to Arya, circumstances do not work in his favour, and he gets misunderstood instead.
Anni Manchi Sakunamule, as the title suggests, is a take against superstitious beliefs and the tendency to reduce a person’s capability on their gender. Years ago, a priest had predicted that a male child would end all of Prasad’s miseries, besides bringing closure to a generation-long dispute over the coffee estate. However, Rishi grows up as a living testimony to prove such superstitions wrong.
As the story writer, Nandini Reddy excels in conveying this message subtly. The film also has some fresh writing. For instance, Arya gets into a relationship with Rishi’s cousin and is ready to get married. There is not much drama around this, unlike in usual romance dramas.
But the problem with the overall film is its wafer-thin plotline. Broadly, there are two conflicts at play in the story: 1. Will the coffee estate dispute end? How? 2. Will Rishi marry Arya? The film, however, concludes without even offering a proper closure. Due to the lack of an effective ending, you eventually feel like you invested your time and effort on nothing.
Though the plot is weak, the huge cast makes a great attempt to make the story engaging. Besides Santosh, Malavika, and Rajendra Prasad, the film also stars Gautami, Rao Ramesh, Naresh, and Vennela Kishore among others. However, the performances alone cannot compensate for the entire film. A better screenplay could have probably made the film even more engaging.
Though the film is riddled with cliches, Nandini Reddy subverts the film by adding another layer to the story before the climax. And when that happens, you are bound to be moved. In these scenes, the performances of Gautami, Rajendra Prasad, Naresh, and Rao Ramesh are especially incredible, and it makes sense why they had such a long lineup of actors. However, it is too little and too late to make up for the entire film. As the nonconformist, Santosh’s performance is adequate. Malavika also does a great job in the role of Arya.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the producers or any other members of its cast and crew.