Manasuku Nachindi Review: A story without a soul

A juvenile love triangle and shallow execution make this film fall flat
Manasuku Nachindi Review: A story without a soul

Hailing from a filmy family, there were high expectations for the debut of director Manjula Ghattamaneni. But sadly, she proves true the aphorism -- expectations lead to disappointment. Manasaku Nacchindi (Things that our hearts love) is deficient of a beating heart, and the script lets the movie down.

Director: Manjula Gattamaneni
Cast: Sundeep Kishan, Amyra Dastur, Priyadarshe, Tridha Choudhary,
Adith Arun

Suraj (Sundeep Kishan) and Nitya (Amyra Dastur) are best friends, often mistaken for a couple. Their families decide to get them married, assuming they are madly in love. They elope to Goa to flee from the impending marriage and discover themselves. They live together in an earthy yet plush guest house in Goa, amidst untouched irresistible nature. While Nitya turns into a meditation teacher, Suraj is a directionless guy with a blithe-attitude, who thinks he is a good photographer, until he gets a reality check from his friends. Post the discussion with his friends, Suraj finds his path to satori (enlightenment) by spending time in nature. All it takes is a silent pond in Goa to make him attain the epiphany that his heart is in nature and his forte is nature photography. Suraj becomes a responsible guy overnight and redeems himself by following his heart. Nitya, of course, falls in love with him. But Suraj is in love with Nikki (Tridha Choudhary). Nitya lives in a denial and thinks that he is in love with her and waits for him to realise that he loves her and not Nikki. In course, Nitya learns that Surja is truly in love with Nikki and not her. The heartbroken Nitya accepts Abhay’s (Adith Arun) proposal of marriage. A day before the wedding, during a meditation game, Suraj discovers that he is in love with Nitya. Too late to confess, Suraj cries his heart out with regret. Ultimately they get together.

The idea of taking off on a journey to finding one's inner-self in Goa sounds interesting until they actually show the path to it. That meditation is all about doing what we love sounds like music to our ears, but that music turns into noise in seconds when they show Suraj discovering himself just by looking at a butterfly and sleeping near waterfalls. 

He becomes an international photographer just by a few clicks of nature in Goa. If only the quest to finding our inner-self and discovering our uniqueness were this easy! In a world where society is constantly trying to change our mind, following our heart and chasing our passion involves a lot of gut, heart and spine. But the movie doesn’t want to dwell deep on this. The intense words in the dialogues are not reflect in character's actions. Every scene is superficial.

The exotic, untouched locales of Goa, and the sartorial elegance are all that capture our attention, while the story and screenplay are busy boring us. The juvenile love triangle and the shallow execution make the movie fall flat. The actors do manage to do a reasonably good job but the bizarre loopholes in the story overpower their screen presence. An hour at a mind-therapy class or a walk in the park on a Sunday morning will leave you with a better experience. 

Related Stories

No stories found.
Cinema Express
www.cinemaexpress.com