Release Date : October 06, 2023
123telugu.com Rating : 2.5/5
Starring: Sudheer Babu, Eesha Rebba, Mirnalini Ravi, Harsha Vardhan, Ali Reza, Rajeev Kanakala, Hari Teja, Ajay
Director: Harsha Vardhan
Producers: Suniel Narang, Puskur Ram Mohan Rao
Music Director: Chaitan Bharadwaj
Cinematographer: PG Vinda
Editor: Marthand K. Venkatesh
Related Links : Trailer
Sudheer Babu and actor-writer Harsha Vardhan joined hands for a film named Maama Mascheendra. Sudheer Babu played multiple roles in this flick, which hit the screens today. Let’s see how it is.
Story:
Parasuram (Sudheer Babu) kills his father and stepmother, who are the reason for his mother’s death. After completing his imprisonment, Parasuram learns that his mother’s property is with his maternal uncle. Somehow, Parasuram wins his uncle’s confidence and marries a girl whom his uncle treats as his daughter.
Parasuram orders his assistant Ramdaasu (Harsha Vardhan) to eliminate the family of his uncle’s son Prasad (Ajay), but Ramdaasu fails to do so. Prasad has two sons, Durga (Sudheer Babu) and DJ (Sudheer Babu), who look like Parasuram. How Parasuram’s life is affected by Prasad’s sons is what the film is about.
Plus Points:
Sudheer Babu is the heart and soul of Maama Mascheendra. He portrayed all three characters with utmost conviction. He has shown ample variation in each of the roles. Be it the action, emotional, or comedy scenes, Sudheer Babu has aced them all. The actor’s hard work and dedication are visible.
Harsha Vardhan impresses as an actor and lends a nice support to Sudheer Babu. The last few minutes of the film are handled neatly. Emotional scenes between father and daughter came out quite well. The second half has some moments that will evoke decent laughs. Eesha Rebba and Mirnalini Ravi did what was expected of them.
Minus Points:
What otherwise could have been a fun-filled ride was brought down by an underwhelming presentation. The baby-swapping concept, which has been used extensively in recent Telugu films, was altered a bit here, and it actually had more scope for entertainment. However, the potential of the script was not thoroughly utilized.
The main drawback is the film’s first half, which moves at a very slow pace. ‘Act One,’ i.e., the character introductions and the world-building, is done in a very effective manner. But after that, the film becomes boring with pale love tracks that take up most of the screen time. They are prolonged, and a few scenes could have been trimmed down in the first hour. Shakalaka Shankar’s track is tedious. A few key logics are ignored, which is baffling.
The songs don’t make an impact, and they, in fact, take the film down. There are moments of brilliance that show that Harsha Vardhan is a sensible writer, but it would have been much better had such impressive scenes lasted longer. The audience needs to be attentive to understand the proceedings as the film is based on a confusion comedy.
Technical Aspects:
Chaitan Bharadwaj’s songs aren’t great, and his background score is decent. The cinematography by PG Vinda is neat. The production values are good, but the VFX works look patchy. The editing is below par.
Maama Mascheendra is a film that is good on paper, but the same is not translated effectively onto the screen. Harsha Vardhan penned dialogues for films like Manam and Guru in the past. A few dialogues in Maama Mascheendra are really good and make sense. The point he chose for Maama Mascheendra was indeed good, but what went wrong was the presentation. He stumbles with the first hour and comes up with some decent scenes in the second half.
Verdict:
On the whole, Maama Mascheendra has an interesting premise, but the execution is not up to the mark. The first half is prolonged unnecessarily with boring love tracks. Sudheer Babu does well, and the film has a few scenes going its way. As mentioned earlier, the audience must be highly focused to understand the proceedings, or else they might lose track of the film. Though the second half offers some respite, the overall experience is underwhelming.
123telugu.com Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewed by 123telugu Team