Muthayya Movie Review
on May 2, 2025
Cast: Sudhakar Reddy, Arun Raj, Purna Chander M, Mounika Bomma, Sai Leela, Kiran Kumar, Jayavardhan Sagar
Crew:
Music by Karthik Rodriguez
Cinematography by Divakar Mani
Editing by Sai Murali
Direction by Bhaskhar Maurya
Produced by Vamsi Karumanchi, Vrinda Prasad
Available on ETV Win OTT platform
Parental Guidance is advised
B. Narsing Rao, a lesser known Telugu director, but highly acclaimed award-winning filmmaker used to follow his non-commercial oriented filmmaking with aplomb consistency. He made National Award winning films like Rangula Kala, Daasi, Matti Manushulu. His films also gone to Moscow Film Festival, Cannes, Karlovy Vary Film Festival. He consistently won Diploma of Merit award at Moscow Film Festival for Daasi and Matti Manushulu. His Maa Bhoomi became his breakout and Harivillu has been sent to Cannes. He is the major filmmaker in Telugu parallel cinema which Muthayya tries to revamp in a way.
"Balagam" Sudhakar Reddy, Arun Raj have starred in this 2022 film that travelled around the world for various film festivals. The movie has finally released digitally on ETV WIN and it is said to be a comedy that showcases the penchant of a person who symbolises never-say-die attitude from Telangana rural village. Let's discuss about the film, in detail.
Plot:
Muthayya (Sudhakar Reddy) hails from Wanaparthy village in Telangana. His son and daughter-in-law respect him while he has a big dream to act in films. Even though he is 70-year-old, he still dreams to find at least a small role in films. He makes friends with Malli (Arun Raj), a cycle mechanic in the village. Muthayya gets to know about short filmmaking and decides to feature in a short film. He is able to find money to make one? What challenges did he face and did he achieve his dream? Watch the movie to know more.
Analysis:
Sudhakar Reddy's performance is the major key in this film. He is believable as an old man succumbed by his goal to feature in a film and who would do anything to appear in one. But his stage drama portions are not so convincing as his dialogue delivery does prove to be a hassle in those portions. He is able to deliver big monologues and even memorize very difficult Telugu words but the clarity of speech could have been better.
Despite some shortcomings his performance is the only thing that holds our interest throughout in this film. Arun Raj as young Malli gets a love interest and romantic sub-plot but it loses steam by the mid portion. He is able to convey the belief in old man and being his young and enthusiastic friend well enough. Still, he needs a lot of improvement in emotional scenes.
All others are believable in their characters but do not really touch our heart strings. That is the major issue with writing and execution as well. The thought process to make a film that almost feels like a docu drama is appreciable but the drama part needs moments that engage us into the film even more. Natasamrat, a Marathi film, is able to pull off dramatic scenes even more convincingly, while it does play with the line of being dangerously TV melodrama in few scenes.
Muthayya consciously avoids melodrama but doesn't get the drama right. It needed some more establishment regarding Muthayya's emotional dilemma. The character moments needed to grow beyond now almost template drinking scenes. His connect with his son, his aspirational backstory all needed much more finesse for us to feel rather than just some random lines. Films like Koozhangal/ Pebbles. Kottukkaali/ The Adamant Girl could involve us into the drama with excellent camera work.
This film lacks in such drama building as the camera work tries to be minimal but not smart. There are moments that try to pass off as hardships and undeterred enthusiasm but the depth in writing is again lacking. Even if the movie is comedy, it needed some more weight in representation of such scenes. Overall, the movie is a decent watch for a lazy weekend.
Bottomline:
Tests patience at many places yet a decent one time watch film.
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviews Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this review are personal views/opinions shared by the writer and organisation does not hold a liability to them. Viewers Discretion is advised.
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