A love triangle, Mandahasa’s highlight is its music. It is a sprightly song fest that captivates the audience. It is triumph of style over substance built on a simple plot by director Rajesh Nair, haunting and poignant at the same time, sans the corn and candy fluff of other works.
Shot at a resort, the film begins with Aditya (Rakesh Adiga) who comes to stay at his grandfather Raghavendra’s (Vijayasarathy) resort where he happens to meet Rohan (Chetan). One lonely night, Rohan sits to share his love story with Aditya.
Enter Anjali (Nikki), a musician and her father, a doctor played by Srinath. Both are excited to spend their holiday at a resort where she meets Rohan, an orphan, who is a good dancer and a regular performer at the resort. Anjali is smitten by Rohan’s dancing skills and shows interest in learning dance from him. Rohan agrees to coach her.
Dance and music brings them close and they fall in love. Their proposal is agreed by Anjali’s father. Rohan wants to surprise Anjali with an engagement ring for which he takes help from the hotel chef. Fate takes another turn when Rohan is killed in an accident and a shocked Anjali goes into depression.
Rohan who now turns into a ‘ghost’, seeks Aditya’s help in bringing Anjali back to normal. Aditya goes out of his way and fulfills the ghost’s wish and successfully brings back Anjali to normalcy.
Even as life gets normal, Anjali gets to know Aditya’s secret which is told in the end.
Though Mandahasa took more than two years in the making, it does not lose its charm.
Newcomers, Nikki, Rakesh and Chetan give an excellent act to this serious script, while Srinath, Mitra and Vijayasarathy are adequate.
The music by Veer Samarth is fresh. All said and done, Mandahasa is definitely a must watch with a hatke love story.
The Verdict: This light-hearted musical drama is in top order.
Director: Rajesh Nair
Cast: Nikki, Rakesh Adiga and Chetan