Mahanubhavudu movie review: A story of love vs obsessive pursuit of cleanliness
Mahanubhavudu
Cast: Sharwanand, Mehreen, Nasser, Vennela Kishore, Bhadram and others
Director: Maruthi
Rating: 3 star
It's yet another movie from the stable of director Maruthi, who has directed entertainers such as Bhale Bhale Magadivoy and Prema Katha Chitram. For Mahanubhavudu, Maruthi has joined hands with Prabhas's home production, UV Creations. The movie was released during the Dasara holidays.
Sharwanand plays the lead character, Anand, who is a software engineer, obsessed with cleanliness. It disturbs him to see anything clumsy or dirty. Meghana (Mehreen) works in a project under Anand, and of course he falls in love with her. She returns his love though she knows he suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). However, she says she must have the approval of her father (Nasser), for the marriage.
After meeting Anand, Meghana's father agrees to the marriage. However, when the father falls ill the very next day, Anand refuses to take him to hospital because of his cleanliness phobia. This naturally opens a crack in his relationship with Mehgana. She starts hating Anand, but her father believes that Anand has saved his life and invites him to the village where he lives. In the village, Anand confronts his problem and learns to deal with it.
Director Maruthi often deals with medical issues in his movies. The lead actor in his earlier film Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy had memory issues. In this movie, the lead actor suffers from OCD. One must appreciate the fact that he highlights these serious issues through his movies.
The first part of the film shows Anand's obsession with cleanliness and how he doesn’t even touch his mother when she is suffering from a fever. In the second half, Anand tries to deal with this problem in order to win his lady love.
The narrative is somewhat predictable and the second half drags a bit. If the director had focussed on pre-climax and climax, this film could have been another big hit like Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy.
Sharwanand has changed his looks to fit the character he plays and does a good job. Mehreen's acting is good. Vennela Kishore provides some laughs in scenes with another actor Bhadram. Veteran actor Nasser acts the part of Mehreen's father with ease. Kalyani Natarrajan, the new actor who plays Anand's mother, has acted very gracefully. Music by S S Thaman is good, especially the title song.
Overall, the movie is entertaining and good humoured. Director Maruthi proves once again that he can deliver good romantic entertainers.
