'MLA' movie review: A mockery of a political drama
Movie: MLA
Cast: Kalyan Ram, Kajal Aggarwal, Ravi Kishan, Brahmanandam
Director: Upendra Madhav
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
I couldn’t thank my immune system enough for helping me endure a brain bleeding movie, yet again. It is a concoction of all the erroneous elements of a commercial flick – a stalking song, vulgar comedy, irrelevant songs at inappropriate moments, a too good to be true hero, a damsel in distress, a baddie, scams to be disclosed and some people revolting moments. MLA – Manchi Lakshanalu vunna Abbayi is just another saridon-desperate movie.
Kalyan (Kalyan Ram) is a happy-go-lucky boy and an MLA (manchi lakshanalu vunna abbayi), who falls in love with Indu (Kajal Aggarwal) at the first instance of meeting her at a mall. He follows her and irritates her to spend time with him to understand. She rejects his proposal and storms away. Well, what comes next is a tried and tested formula of most of the commercial flicks in Tollywood- a stalking song. Perhaps there are two stalking songs in the movie.
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Posani Krishna is a philanderer boss, who lusts on every woman in his office. He gets a call from his superior stating his daughter would join the company for two months for a project. In the meanwhile, Kalyan too joins the office in the CSR department. He realises that Indu is the boss’s daughter. He still imposes his proposal on her. Indu’s company lands in a trouble with a local goon Mahathalli (Ajay) encroaching their land. Kalyan says he will solve the issue and if the results are positive, Indu should accept his proposal. Yes, even I lost my mind here.
A girl’s feeling is supposed to be rhythmical to how a guy solves her issues but not how compatible she finds him. He solves the problem with the help of a corrupt lawyer Pattabhi (Brahmanandam). The twist now is Kajal is not the real boss. Who she really is and why she had to keep her identity under the wraps surprises Kalyan.
Veerabhadrapuram Gaddappa played by Ravi Kishen is the main villain of the film. He is the MLA of Veerabhadrapuram who wants to attain Indu at any cost. Indu’s father wants her to marry a man in power and thus doesn’t approve of Kalyan. Well, as expected, Kalyan challenges him to become an MLA to marry his love.
He contests against Gaddappa, who thinks being in power is his prerogative. Kalyan tries to woo people with new taps and borewell water. (Something every politician does during elections). He learns about Gaddapa’s glass factory and how he vehemently forces the children in the village to work in his factory. He even kills a journalist who tries to expose about how kids in the factory are dying of silicosis.
Kalyan learns about the scam, educates the parents on how important it is to educate children and promises to fun their education. Well, he earned love from the children and parents now.
He is bound to win the elections, for there is no good man like him who can rule the village and help them develop.
Kalyan’s evident imitation of his uncle Balakrishna and sometimes superstar Rajnikanth was infecting excruciating pain from within. Kajal’s role was confined to being a damsel in distress, and looking pretty.
Brahmanandam and Pridhvi Raj’s wisecracks try to chuckle some laughter in the painful movie. The funniest scene is when a woman flies in the air and beats the goon up.
The cinematography was decently good while music was not too catchy. The story falls flat with its deadening plots and foreseeable twists. The movie can give some fashion inspirations but nothing beyond.
Bottom line: This is not for those who are looking for fresh and thought-provoking movies. It is just another commercial body with lifeless organs.
— Purnima Sriram
purnima@newindianexpress.com
@iyer_purnima