‘Malli Modalaindi’ movie review: A fairly refreshing take on life after divorce

When the male protagonist says reflectively that he thought he understood girls since he grew up surrounded by them, however has realised that love and marriage are completely different ball video games, it hints at some thought having gone into the movie’s writing. Definitely Malli Modalaindi, written and directed by TG Keerthi Kumar, breaks a number of cliches for Telugu cinema.

For starters, the story doesn’t decide women and men who half methods. It understands what they undergo – the explanation might be one thing harrowing like dowry harassment, sexual harassment or one thing that’s typically missed, like incompatibility. The story additionally doesn’t have characters doling out recommendation to girls and warning that life will get powerful after divorce. As a substitute, it depicts a male standpoint, highlighting that separation isn’t a easy trip for them both.

Chef Vikram (Sumanth Kumar) grew up admiring the power of his mom Sujatha (Suhasini), an entrepreneur whose spice enterprise grows manifold. He takes to cooking naturally and turns into a chef. Narrated matter of factly, the scenario gently asserts that it isn’t unthinkable in a standard family of the late Nineties for an adolescent boy to spend time within the kitchen.

We get a fast recap of how issues have soured between Vikram and Nisha (Varshini Sounderarajan). Relatively than reside with an sad marriage, they resolve to maneuver on with mutual respect, relatively than slugging it out in court docket. Nonetheless, the narrative quickly contrasts Vikram and Nisha with Kishore (Vennela Kishore as a motivational speaker) and his spouse. Kishore can not stop referring to his spouse as a boar and she or he makes use of him as a punching bag.

The concept of beginning life afresh after divorce and matters of psychological well being and remedy (Manjula Ghattamaneni in a cameo as a therapist) discover their method into the story. The problems are addressed on the floor stage, however are pretty sensitively handled. Whereas these stretches are written sensibly, the comedian parts are relatively banal. Vennela Kishore tries his greatest to evoke laughter with the traces written for him; some jokes land whereas others sound lame. Pattern this: “They are saying that love is like strolling within the park, however yours has turned out like Jurassic Park.” Or the pointless limerick “Why does the solar glow? Why are you so low? What is going on? Let’s float”… If these bits had additionally been written with some zing, the movie would have made for a crackling romance drama laced with comedy.

The romance between Vikram and the divorce lawyer Pavithra (Naina Ganguly) might have finished with some spark. The concept of a person falling in love together with his spouse’s divorce lawyer sounds higher on paper than it seems on display. Nonetheless, because the story progresses it finds its rhythm and addresses Vikram’s insecurities and the way he battles the worry of historical past repeating itself. Sumanth is an effective match for the function, gamely enjoying a personality that realises he has to measure as much as the robust girls round him. There’s additionally a remark concerning the age distinction between the couple. In what number of mainstream movies will we hear of statements that might be perceived as unflattering to the standard picture of the hero? Sumanth performs Vikram with the subtlety required and delivers the emotional parts successfully with understated restraint. Naina Ganguly and Varshini are ample, and Chinmayi’s voice does a number of the heavy lifting for Naina.

In Anup Rubens music, the ‘Alone Alone’ observe by Sid Sriram does stand out. Just a few comedian dialogues additionally made me surprise if Keerthi Kumar or anybody within the movie’s core workforce is a large Hollywood fan, for there are a number of references to Christopher Nolan, Interstellar and the characters of The Avengers franchise.

Malli Modalaindi has its coronary heart in the correct place; it’s a effectively intentioned drama that might have finished with some extra spark within the writing.

(Malli Modalaindi streams on Zee5)